THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IMPORT    AND    OUTLOOK 
OF    SOCIALISM 


WRITINGS    BY    NEWTON    MANN 


THE    EVOLUTION     OF    A    GREAT    LITERA- 
TURE :    Natural  History  of  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian Scriptures.    Second  edition.    One  vol.,  5x8 
inches,  409  pages,  §1.50  net,  postage  15  cents. 
"  A  sun-clear  book.    Careful,  fearless."—  U7iity. 
"Clear  and  intelligible.    Its  fundamental  postu- 
late, that  '  the  Hebrew  literature  was  an  evolution 
and  not  a  miracle,'  will  commend  the  book  to  the 
modern  layman."  —  The  Outlook. 

IMPORT  AND  OUTLOOK  OF  SOCIALISM. 
One  vol.,  5x8  inches,  336  pages,  &1.50  net,  post- 
age 12  cents. 

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JAMES    H.   WEST    COMPANY,    Publishers, 
BOSTON,    MASS. 


Import  and  Outlook 
of  Socialism 


BY 

Newton    Mann 

Author  of  "  The  Evolution  of  a  Great  Literature,"  etc. 


BOSTON 

JAMES    H.   WEST    COMPANY 


Copyright,    19  io 
By  James  H.   West  Company 


TO 

DR.    M.    ROWENA    MORSE 

WHO    WITH    ALL   THE    PROPHETIC 

IS    LOOKING    FOR 

"THE    CITY    WHICH    HAS    FOUNDATIONS" 

THE    IDEAL   COMMONWEALTH,   WHEREIN    THE   WORDS 

LIBERTY,    EQUALITY,    FRATERNITY 

ARE    MORE    THAN    A    HOLLOW    SOUND 


Our  slogan  is  Social  Justice,  zvhich  means 
equal  opportJtnity,  and  retvard  proportioned 
to  service 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 
Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776     ....        9 

CHAPTER    II 
An  Unconscious   Socialism   Making   its  Way  in    Law 

AND  Custom 49 

CHAPTER   III 
Recent  Development  of  Socialism 83 

CHAPTER    IV 
The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken 109 

CHAPTER   V 
Socialism  International 148 

CHAPTER*  VI 
Prospects  of  Socialism  on  Materialistic  Grounds  .    .    163 

CHAPTER   VII 
Superfluities  and  Excrescences 189 

CHAPTER    VIII 
Prospects  of  Socialism  on  Moral  Grounds 203 

CHAPTER    IX 
Socialism  Universal  Peace 227 

CHAPTER   X 
Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman 242 


viii  Contents 

CHAPTER   XI 
Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus 265 

CHAPTER   XII 
Socialism  and  the  Church 299 

CHAPTER    XIII 
The  New  World  in  the  Making 315 

Index 333 


Import  and  Outlook  of 
Socialism 


CHAPTER   I 

SOCIAL  UNREST   SINCE  THE  AMERICAN  ERA    1776 

The  American  Revolution,  which  carried  with  it 
the  first  clear  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man  made 
by  representatives  of  a  people,  was  the  signal  of  on- 
coming social  disturbances  the  greatest  in  history. 
Our  fathers  uttered  a  pronouncement  so  far-reaching, 
so  notably  ahead  of  their  time,  ahead  of  their  own 
practice  even  (slavery  was  then  a  fact  recognized 
in  all  the  States),  as  to  make  it  an  ideal  to  be  striven 
for  through  the  centuries  rather  than  a  declaration 
of  an  existing,  undisputed  equality,  or  of  a  universal 
inherent  right  of  liberty  accorded  by  the  signers, 
and  to  the  defense  of  which  they  pledged  their  lives, 
their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor.  So  decidedly 
is  this  the  case  that  in  later  time  some  of  us,  who 
might  be  called  their  great-grandchildren,  seeing  the 
actual  conditions  out  of  which  the  preamble  to  the 
immortal  Declaration  came,  and  seeing,  too,  how  far 
almost  all  the  world  even  yet  is  from  admitting  the 


10  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

validity  of  it,  have,  without  much  disapproval,  heard 
its  assumptions  characterized  as  "  glittering  general- 
ities," unrealizable  in  the  actual  world.  But  Calhoun, 
who  first  made  this  fling,  and  made  it  from  an  obvious 
motive,  is  a  name  less  revered  than  Jefferson,  and 
Jefferson  is  rather  ennobled  than  otherwise  in  that 
he  suffered  his  pen  here  to  be  guided  by  the  soul  of 
Rousseau.  To  be  sure,  as  S.  J.  Randall  said,  it 
was  not  in  defense  of  "  natural  rights,"  or  to  establish 
a  doctrine  of  philosophy,  that  Americans  drew  the 
sword,  but  to  redress  specific  grievances ;  neverthe- 
less it  was  perfectly  in  order  to  set  forth  at  the  outset 
certain  great  principles  which  should  forever  give 
depth  and  dignity  to  an  instrument  otherwise  made 
up  of  more  or  less  petty  complaints  against  the  Brit- 
ish king.  Thus,  though  it  be  incidentally,  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  won  the  credit  of  entering  upon  a 
conflict  which  later  took  on  vast  proportions,  became 
world-wide,  and  has  not  to  this  day  reached  its  climax. 
As  the  first  sparks  kindling  the  conflagration  came 
over  from  Europe  in  the  writings  of  certain  French 
philosophers,  so  the  light  of  it  shone  back  and  fired 
the  breasts  of  Frenchmen  for  their  far  more  resound- 
ing Revolution.  As  the  events  of  that  marvelous 
uprising  began  to  unroll  themselves,  enthusiastic  lovers 
of  liberty  the  world  over  took  them  to  indicate  the 
dawn  of  a  new  day  in  which  the  social  regeneration 
of  mankind  could  be  worked  out  unhindered  by  any 
obstacles.  But  no  secure  basis  for  a  democracy  had 
been  prepared.     The  middle  class  —  the  class  that  ac- 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  iy'j6      11 

tually  dethroned  the  king,  took  over  the  government, 
and  despoiled  the  nobles  —  had  their  own  interests  at 
heart  which  they  did  not  neglect;  the  masses,  on 
whom  in  a  free  republic  things  must  soon  or  late  de- 
pend, were  in  the  depths  of  ignorance,  and,  if  they 
could  not  vote,  could  carry  pikes,  and  at  the  beck 
of  their  leaders  by  very  force  of  numbers  overpower 
any  assembly.  And  so  it  happened  that  the  fine 
frenzy  of  revolution  for  the  establishment  of  justice 
and  the  rights  of  man  had  hardly  more  than  destroyed 
one  despotism  ere  it  went  hopelessly  astray  into  a 
Reign  of  Terror,  a  mad  exhibition  of  the  policy 
of  judicially  murdering  opponents  in  the  name  of 
liberty,  from  which  the  issue  was  easy  into  the  im- 
memorial folly  of  foreign  conquest.  So  the  cult  of 
military  glory  followed  quick  upon  the  cult  of  the 
goddess  of  Reason,  and  its  insatiable  altars  drank 
the  blood  of  millions,  exhausted  the  resources  of 
France  and  of  Europe,  leaving  behind,  in  mocking 
compensation  for  untold  agonies  and  incalculable 
destruction,  an  arc  de  triumph  and  a  few  other  im- 
posing, but  already  embarrassing,  monuments  of 
glory  which  were  better  called  shame.  But  it  was  such 
a  blinding  glory  that  some  belated  spirits  even  yet  are 
unable  to  see  that  the  great  man  who  wrapped  him- 
self in  it  was  the  chief  scourge  and  monster  of  the 
modern  world.  Whatever  else  may  be  said  of  him, 
scourge  and  monster  he  assuredly  was,  and  not  more 
because  of  the  ravage  and  cruelty  of  his  wars  than 
for  his  arresting  and  setting  back  for  many  a  year 


12  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  dial  of  progress  in  democratic  government.  The 
Revolution  was  discredited  in  almost  all  eyes  by  its 
eventuating  in  a  succession  of  ever  more  unspeakable 
horrors.  A  great  reaction  set  in,  and  for  thirty 
years  after  Napoleon  was  disposed  of  scarce  any 
one  around  the  whole  world  dared  breathe  a  word 
against  tyrants,  or  to  treat  as  anything  more  than 
a  rhapsody  the  doctrine  that  all  men  are  created 
equal  and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights.  The  very  word  "  liberty "  came 
to  be  suspect  of  sedition,  where  it  was  not  used  by 
tyrants  themselves  to  deceive  the  people.  Despots 
sat  once  more  securely  on  their  thrones. 

ECONOMIC  CHANGES  SUPERVENE 

The  so  notable  subsidence  of  revolutionary  senti- 
ment did  not  mean  that  politically  the  world  was 
content;  it  meant  only  that  the  world-masters  had 
largely  succeeded  in  tying  the  tongues  of  political 
reformers  who  would  again  venture  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  divine  right  of  kings,  or  "  rhapsodize " 
over  the  universally  inherent  rights  of  man.  Radical 
politics  thus  tabued,  the  drift  of  thought  on  social 
matters  turned  to  questions  of  economics  and  the 
industrial  life,  which  was  taking  on  new  phases.  The 
situation  of  the  workers  had  been  rendered  exceed- 
ingly critical  since  1780  by  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery to  do  work  before  done  by  hand,  a  change 
which  completely  revolutionized  the  whole  system  of 
production   other   than   agricultural.     The   old   order 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776      13 

of  things  under  which  every  producer  had,  or  could 
have,  his  own  shop  and  in  it  his  own  simple  imple- 
ments, gave  way  to  an  order  requiring  capital  to  do 
anything,  requiring  buildings  of  some  size,  expensive 
machines,  and  many  hired  operatives.  Enormous 
increase  of  efficiency  was  attained,  greatly  swelling 
the  product  and  lowering  its  price  in  every  industry, 
in  almost  every  case  driving  the  small  producer, 
working  in  the  old  way,  out  of  business,  and  forcing 
him  to  seek  his  livelihood  as  an  employe  in  some 
large  establishment.  The  number  of  persons  thus 
compelled  to  turn  to  the  great  factories  for  employ- 
ment far  exceeded  the  demand  for  their  services,  as 
every  man  at  a  machine  displaced  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  hand  workers,  and  they  were  inevitably  brought 
into  sharp  competition  with  one  another  for  what 
places  there  were,  with  the  result  that  wages  were  next 
to  nothing,  barely  what  would  suffice  to  keep  body  and 
soul  together.  So  the  centers  of  the  new  industry 
became  promptly  the  centers  of  poverty  and  wretched- 
ness, and  such,  to  a  somewhat  less  appalling  degree, 
they  have  mostly  remained  to  this  day.  At  the  same 
time  the  profits  of  the  new  productive  enterprises, 
particularly  in  England  where  they  were  earliest 
developed,  were  very  large,  amounting  to  fifty,  even 
one  hundred  or  more  per  cent,  on  the  investment, 
speedily  building  up  great  fortunes.  The  gulf  between 
rich  and  poor  deepened  and  widened,  augmenting  the 
hideousness  of  a  spectacle  always  so  sadly  common, 
of  two  classes  living,  one  flaunting,  the  other  drudging. 


14  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

both  dying,  side  by  side,  and  yet  apart  as  heaven  is 
from  earth. 

The  hardships  often  extreme  growing  out  of  the 
industrial  situation  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  the  miseries  untold  to  which  the 
toilers  were  reduced,  tended  vastly  more  to  their 
discontent  than  ever  had  any  tyranny  of  any  govern- 
ment. It  was  the  bourgeoisie,  the  middle  class,  that 
in  1789  quarreled  with  the  king,  led  the  Revolution, 
and  profited  by  it.  Fattened  on  the  spoils  of  the 
church  and  the  nobility,  or  prospered  in  new 
undertakings,  they  had  become  the  comfortable,  the 
well-to-do  class.  In  all  lands  men  of  this  class  were 
pushing  the  great  enterprises  and  reaping  the  great 
harv^ests.  Naturally  they  were  satisfied  with  things 
as  they  found  them,  loyal  to  the  existing  order.  Not 
so  with  the  burden-bearers,  the  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water;  or  they  in  yet  worse  plight  who 
found  no  wood  to  hew,  no  water  to  draw.  And  these 
were  and  always  have  been  the  great  part  of  the  human 
race.  They  had  been  patient,  all-enduring  in  building 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  temples  and  hanging  gar- 
dens of  Babylon ;  with  scarce  a  murmur  they  had 
tramped  to  their  death  over  the  world  with  the  world- 
conquerors  ;  but  now  some  of  them  had  acquired  a 
little  knowledge,  some  had  seen  better  days,  and  not 
a  few  in  face  of  starvation  openly  revolted  at  their 
lot.  Here  and  there,  in  desperation,  they  marched  on 
the  mills  and  destroyed  the  machines,  which  they  took 
for  mortal  enemies,  invaders  of  their  domain,  plun- 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  17J6      15 

derers  of  the  poor,  snatching  the  food  from  their 
mouths,  the  clothes  from  their  backs.  *  But  this 
was  to  contend  with  fate,  to  fight  against  the  gods. 
Laying  hold  of  the  forces  of  Nature  and  applying 
them  to  the  work  of  production,  putting  upon 
them  the  burden  of  toil  which  human  hands  before 
had  borne,  is  the  great  step  forward  in  the  industrial 
world,  the  greatest  ever  taken,  —  the  natural,  inevi- 
table step,  and  one  which,  under  the  proper  social 
order,  so  far  from  inducing  hardship  to  any  one  would 
have  been  fecund  of  blessing  to  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  round  the  whole  earth,  lightening  every  load, 
creating  plenty,  carrying  into  all  households  comfort, 
light,  and  joy.  The  very  fact  that  multitudes  were 
made  miserable  by  the  harnessing  of  steam  and  water- 
falls to  do  the  drudgery  of  life  is  itself  proof  positive 
that  there  was  something  radically  wrong  in  the  ex- 
isting social  order,  something  not  to  be  glossed  over, 
no  minor  defect  calling  for  a  little  tinkering,  but  a 
structural  viciousness,  beyond  remedy  short  of  funda- 
mental change. 

To  this  view,  after  Napoleon's  banishment  had  left 
Europe  time  to  reflect,  many  thinkers  came,  and 
thenceforth  with  them  the  pressing  problem  was  less 
a  political  than  a  distinctly  social  one.     Some  of  them 


*  Shortsighted  as  this  now  appears  to  have  been  in  the 
workers,  in  extenuation  it  is  well  to  remember  that  even 
long  after,  many,  including  so  distinguished  a  writer  as 
John  Ruskin,  took  the  ground  that  the  way  out  of  labor 
troubles  was  to  discontinue  the  use  of  machinery  and  return 
to  hand-production. 


16  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

saw  and  sympathized  with  the  suffering  and  the 
ominous  disquietude  of  the  toilers,  and  with  rare  self- 
devotion  undertook  measures  for  their  relief ;  others, 
smitten  themselves  with  a  great  unrest  in  view  of 
the  way  the  momentous  social  problem  was  left  to 
drift,  urged  upon  the  State  the  duty,  to  take  preced- 
ence of  all  other  duties,  of  looking  after  the  most 
vital  interests  of  the  great  body  of  its  people,  and, 
by  managing  the  great  industries,  prevent  the  abuse 
of  them. 

THE    WORK    OF    SAINT-SIMON 

The  snows  of  only  two  winters  had  whitened  the 
blood-drenched  field  of  Waterloo  when  one  of  those 
geniuses  came  to  the  front  who  seem  to  rise  now 
and  then  as  if  on  purpose  to  make  amends,  materially 
or  spiritually,  for  the  losses  inflicted  on  the  world 
by  another  of  their  countrymen :  *  Claude  Henri, 
Comte  de  Saint-Simon.  Of  aristocratic  birth,  as  his 
title  indicates,  Saint-Simon  early  freed  himself  of  the 
exclusive  feeling  characteristic  of  his  class ;  and  see- 
ing the  backward  trend  of  France,  —  seeing  too  the 
wrongs  done  to  the  great  mass  of  the  toilers,  who, 
driven  to  desperation  by  the  situation  in  which  they 
found  themselves,  must  ultimately,  if  denied  social 
justice,  either  break  out  in  violent  revolution  or  so 
degenerate  physically   and  morally  as  to   imperil   the 


*  It  will  be  remembered  that  Huxley  said  of  Pasteur  that 
his  material  service  alone  made  good  to  France  the  indem- 
nity of  five  milliards  francs  paid  to  Germany,  —  price  of 
the  folly,  not  to  say  the  crime,  of  Napoleon  III. 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776       17 

future  of  the  whole  race,  —  undertook  with  prophetic 
self-consecration  to  devise  a  social  system  which, 
resting  on  established  scientific  and  ethical  principles, 
should  be  free  from  the  fatal  drawbacks  of  the  present 
order.  He  dissociated  his  system  as  far  as  possible 
from  revolutionary  politics,  so  far,  indeed,  that  he 
even  had  hopes  of  its  being  accepted  by  Louis  XVIII. 
and  put  immediately  into  operation.  It  will  help  to- 
ward an  understanding  of  the  social  unrest  we  are 
considering  to  glance  at  this  and  some  of  the  subse- 
quent plans  for  meeting  it. 

To  the  mind  of  Saint-Simon  the  work  of  bettering 
human  conditions,  after  all  the  stress  and  strain  of 
a  most  perturbed  generation,  had  made  slight  head- 
way compared  with  what  remained  to  be  done.  The 
Revolution  had  attempted  something,  but  had  soon 
lost  its  way  and  passed  as  a  vision  of  the  night. 
Napoleon  had  come  and  gone,  leaving  little  more 
than  tracks  of  fire  and  blood  across  the  continent  — 
phantoms  of  death  and  hell  passing  with  a  deluded 
world  under  the  name  of  glory.  A  social  reconstruc- 
tion was  called  for,  which  should  put  an  end  to  the 
inimical  competition  of  men  with  one  another  and 
the  exploiting  of  the  many  for  the  aggrandizement 
of  the  few.  Private  fortunes  should  no  more  be 
ground  out  of  the  toil  of  an  army  of  operatives,  but 
all  enterprises,  great  and  small,  should  be  so  managed 
that  the  proceeds  would  have  equitable  distribution 
among  the  contributors.  The  grave  problem  before 
Saint-Simon  was  to  lay  out  a  scheme  to  this  end  which 


18  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

might  reasonably  be  expected  to  work,  and  which, 
put  in  operation,  should  not  disastrously  quench  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  or  benumb  the  power  of  initiative 
on  which  material  progress  so  much  depends.  On 
this  latter  score,  while  admittedly  some  decline  would 
result,  it  could  be  urged  that  a  system  of  industry 
might  be  acceptable  though  it  did  tend  to  weaken 
the  ambition  of  a  few  if  at  the  same  time  it  greatly 
strengthened  the  ambition  of  the  many.  It  could  be 
said  that  the  overweening  eagerness  of  the  managers 
to  get  vastly  rich  is  a  blight  on  them  and  on  the  world, 
leading  them  often  into  such  incessant  and  exhaustive 
outlay  of  vital  force  that  they  do  not  live  out  half 
their  days,  or  live  them  in  a  sad  neglect  of  what  are 
really  the  best  things  in  life.  What  is  yet  worse, 
this  devouring  ambition  to  gain  a  private  advantage, 
while  it  develops  enterprise,  prompts  that  exploiting 
of  the  workers  which  takes  all  ambition  out  of  them. 
The  world  therefore,  thought  Saint-Simon,  can  afford 
some  curbing  of  the  abnormal  energy  of  the  chiefs 
of  industry  if  it  can  have  an  uplift  and  a  quickening 
given  to  the  spirit  of  its  toilers.  He  held  that  the 
world  would  not  lose  the  services  of  these  chiefs  if 
their  private  gains  were  very  considerably  restricted. 
He  would  keep  them  at  their  posts  of  management. 
They  might  work  a  little  less  furiously,  but  they  would 
work  sufficiently,  for  every  man  delights  in  the  exer- 
cise of  his  capabilities.  He  proposed  that  the  State 
assume  oversight  of  all  industries,  and  arrange  affairs 
so  that  the  products,  or  the  value  of  them,   should 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776      19 

go  to  the  persons  engaged  in  the  just  proportion  that 
their  several  efforts  contribute  to  the  production. 
A  formidable  undertaking  no  doubt,  and  one  not  to 
be  perfectly  carried  out.  Strictly  equitable  distribu- 
tion would  be  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  arrive  at; 
there  would  be  unavoidable  dissatisfaction  here  and 
there ;  but  no  distribution  could  be  made  on  this 
plan  which  would  approach  in  inequity  the  actual  dis- 
tribution of  profits  in  the  great  industries  as  then  and 
now  conducted. 

Saint-Simon's  plan  would  convert  the  capable  chiefs 
of  industry,  the  managers  of  all  enterprises,  —  who 
in  his  day  as  now  were  seeking  to  turn  into  their  own 
coffers  the  largest  possible  part  of  the  earnings  of  the 
largest  possible  number  of  people,  —  into  public  ser- 
vants laboring  not  for  their  own  good  only  but  for  the 
good  as  well  of  the  people  serving  under  them.  In  lieu 
of  greed  he  urged  generosity;  in  lieu  of  rivalry  he 
would  bring  in  fraternity.  So  his  scheme  allied 
itself  in  his  thought  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and 
he  came  to  call  it  "  The  New  Christianity,"  which 
at  the  same  time  he  declared  was  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, whose  fundamental  principle  he  held  to  be : 
"  Men  ought  to  regard  one  another  as  brothers." 
This  principle,  modernized  and  glorified,  he  made  to 
read :  "  Religion  must  aid  society  in  its  chief  purpose, 
which  is  the  most  rapid  improvement  of  the  lot  of 
the  poor."  In  these  terms  he  lifted  the  question  of 
social  reconstruction  into  a  religion.  And,  indeed, 
he    found   it   nowise    difficult   to   show   that   he   was 


20  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

following  after  Jesus,  who  distinctly  said  his  mission 
was  especially  to  the  poor,  in  whose  welfare  he  ever 
showed  himself  most  concerned.  And  it  was  apparent 
to  Saint-Simon,  as  it  must  be  to  every  one  who  can- 
didly considers  the  subject,  that  Christianity  as  it 
now  exists  is  not  based  on  any  such  principle.  On 
the  contrary,  in  the  Christian  more  than  ever  in  the 
pagan  world,  and  more  and  more  as  wealth  increases, 
the  idle  are  surfeited  in  luxury,  while  diligent  toilers 
are  quite  generally  without  the  comforts,  often  with- 
out the  necessaries  of  life. 

That  good  men  and  true,  profound  thinkers  in  the 
highest  fields,  should  be  taking  such  ground  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  (Saint-Simon  died 
in  1825),  is  as  salient  an  indication  of  the  grave  social 
unrest  of  the  time  as  was  the  smashing  of  machines 
by  riotous  workmen  in  the  great  centers  of  industry. 
So  heavily  lay  upon  his  conscience  the  doing  of  this 
first  great  socialistic  work  that  he  devoted  to  it  the 
best  years  of  his  life  and  spent  on  it  his  entire  fortune, 
so  that  ere  he  was  through  with  his  task  he  was  in  the 
straitened  circumstances  of  another  lover  of  man- 
kind of  whom  it  is  said  that  he  "  had  not  where  to  lay 
his  head.  "    In  a  letter  appealing  for  help  he  wrote : 

"  For  fifteen  days  I  have  lived  upon  bread  and 
water.  I  have  worked  without  fire,  and  have  sold 
everything  but  my  clothes  to  defray  the  cost  of  copy- 
ing my  work  for  the  printer.  It  is  my  interest  in  the 
public  well-being,  my  desire  to  discover  a  means  for 
terminating  in  some  gentle  manner  the  fearful  crisis 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776      21 

in  which  all  European  society  now  finds  itself,  that 
has  brought  me  to  this  state  of  distress.  It  is,  there- 
fore, without  blushing  that  I  confess  my  poverty,  and 
solicit  the  succor  necessary  to  enable  me  to  continue 
my  work." 

DEPRESSION    OF    THE    PERIOD 

The  history  of  the  period  we  are  surveying  makes 
it  appear  that  there  was  always  a  crisis  of  some  sort 
on,  or  an  apprehension  of  one  impending,  and  it  is 
hard  to  tell  when  or  where  things  were  at  their  worst. 
The  times  of  which  Saint-Simon  speaks  —  1816-20  — 
were  certainly  bad  enough  on  both  continents.  In 
America  great  distress  prevailed.  We  are  told,  "  The 
larger  part  of  the  people,  even  with  the  utmost 
economy,  could  hardly  obtain  the  very  necessaries  of 
life."  "  Never,"  says  McMaster,  "  in  the  history  of 
our  country  had  the  sufferings  of  the  dependent  and 
unfortunate  classes  been  so  forcibly  and  persistently 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  public ;  never  before 
had  so  many  worthy  citizens  been  reduced  to  want." 
Wages  were  very  low,  twenty-five  cents  a  day  in 
winter,  only  two  or  three  times  as  much  in  summer, 
with  employment  hard  to  find  even  at  those  rates. 
For  this  pittance  men  worked  fourteen  hours.  Women 
were  paid  much  less  and  found  it  yet  harder  to  get 
anything  to  do  by  which  to  earn  a  living.  By  a 
week's  sewing,  when  it  was  to  be  had,  a  woman  could 
bring  in  fifty  to  seventy-five  cents.  Among  laborers 
there  was  universal  murmuring,  though  none  of  them 


22  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

knew  on  whom  or  on  what  to  lay  the  blame  for  all 
these  woes.  And  of  the  better  instructed  class  no 
enlightened  man  arose,  as  in  France,  to  point  out 
whence  such  crying  evils  spring.  Popular  leaders 
were  absorbed  in  politics  or  in  theology,  to  the  neglect 
of  vital  questions  of  economics. 

In  Europe  the  crisis  following  the  Napoleonic  wars 
was  more  acute.  Disbanded  armies  threw  a  multi- 
tude of  men  into  the  ranks  of  the  unemployed  at  a 
time  when  the  rapid  development  of  labor-saving 
machinery  was  trenching  more  and  more  upon  the 
workers'  province.  In  England  particularly,  where 
the  cotton  industry  was  making  the  greatest  strides, 
the  situation  was  most  distressing.  Sympathetic  souls 
among  the  gentry  were  deeply  moved  and  set  in  the 
way  of  grave  reflection.  But  it  is  noteworthy  that 
the  one  most  stirred,  and  who  most  stirred  his  coun- 
trymen and  the  world  over  the  matter,  came  up  from 
the  working  class.  This  man  was  Robert  Owen,  one 
of  the  most  capable  chiefs  of  industry  that  has  ever 
lived. 

THE    GENIUS    OF    0\VEN 

Born  in  poverty,  by  his  own  exertions  he  had  risen 
at  nineteen  years  of  age  to  be  the  manager  of  a 
cotton-mill  employing  five  hundred  hands,  where  the 
least  of  his  distinctions  was  the  spinning  of  the  first 
bales  of  cotton  exported  from  the  United  States.  This 
was  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
1800,  having  married  Miss  Dale,  whose   father  was 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  iy/6      23 

proprietor  of  a  larger  factory  at  New  Lanark,  thirty 
miles  up  the  Clyde  from  Glasgow,  he  entered  upon 
the  management  of  that  concern.  The  life  of  the 
operatives  there,  as  in  all  the  factories  of  the  time, 
was  most  pitiable.  The  hours  were  shamefully  long 
both  for  men  and  women.  Children  of  tender  age 
were  employed  early  and  late,  and  under  conditions 
debasing  to  mind  and  body,  turning  many  into  crip- 
ples and  more  into  criminals.  The  whole  atmosphere 
of  the  place  was  physically,  mentally,  and  morally 
hideous.  The  operatives  were  living  in  squalor,  an 
illiterate  and  for  the  most  part  drunken,  vicious  set. 
But  capital  had  thought  nothing  of  this;  the  property 
was  paying  well. 

Owen,  though  through  his  marriage  become  part 
owner,  had  higher  than  financial  interests  in  mind.  He 
would  transform  the  lives  of  the  two  thousand  people 
connected  with  the  mill,  and  who  made  up  the  popula- 
tion of  the  village.  Not  to  dwell  here  on  the  meas- 
ures by  which  he  sought  to  accomplish  this  noble 
purpose,  suffice  it  to  say  they  were  gentle,  considerate, 
humane ;  and  that  he  so  far  succeeded  that  the  results 
might  with  much  complacency  be  set  before  the  world. 
The  village  was  really  renovated ;  the  inhabitants 
became  orderly,  the  children  were  in  school ;  com- 
pared with  what  had  been,  there  were  signs  of  comfort 
and  contentment.  But  the  manager  was  not  satisfied 
with  what  he  had  been  able  to  do.  The  facilities  in 
his  hands  were  inadequate ;  he  would  have  power  to 
do  more.     Meanwhile   his   considerable   success   in   a 


24  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

before  unheard-of  undertaking  had  made  him  a  con- 
spicuous figure  in  Great  Britain,  He  had  particularly 
attracted  the  attention  of  certain  wealthy  philanthro- 
pists, and  was  encouraged  in  1813  to  go  up  to  London 
and  lay  before  them  a  scheme  he  had  devised  for 
working  out  a  much  greater  good.  This  scheme  was 
the  formation  of  a  new  company  with  a  paid-in 
capital  of  $650,000  with  which  to  purchase  and  de- 
velop the  New  Lanark  property;  stock  subscriptions 
being  made  under  express  condition  that  dividends 
should  never  exceed  five  per  cent,  per  annum ;  the 
excess  earnings  to  be  expended  at  the  discretion  of 
the  manager  for  the  benefit  of  the  operatives.  With- 
out much  difficulty  the  subscribers  were  found,  —  a 
feat  which  shows  the  confidence  he  inspired,  and  the 
hold  his  ideas  took  upon  such  men  of  the  moneyed 
class  as  still  had  in  their  hearts  consideration  for  the 
toiling  poor.  Among  the  honored  names  composing 
the  new  firm  one  is  pleased  to  see  that  of  Jeremy 
Bentham. 

This  piece  of  financiering  and  the  unexampled  suc- 
cess which  attended  the  operations  at  New  Lanark 
lifted  Robert  Owen  into  great  prominence,  —  made 
him  for  a  time  the  most  talked-of  man  in  Europe. 
It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  industrial 
enterprise  before  or  since  was  ever  productive  of  so 
much  good  to  all  concerned  in  it.  The  mills  prospered 
abundantly,  and  the  great  part  of  the  profits  went  to 
the  operatives  in  the  wisest  of  ways,  making  of  them 
ere  long  nothing  less  than  a  model  community.     The 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1^/6      25 

fame  of  the  village  went  abroad,  attracting  visitors 
from  far  and  near.  The  list  of  them  for  a  few  en- 
suing years  includes  many  eminent  economists,  states- 
men, princes.  Even  the  Czar  Nicholas  came,  and 
seems  to  have  been  the  most  interested  of  all,  for, 
if  we  are  to  believe  his  host's  biographer,  he  tried  to 
induce  Owen  to  go  over  to  Russia  and  develop  his 
system  on  a  far  grander  scale,  offering  to  put  millions 
at  his  disposal  for  the  purpose.  Skilled  labor  was 
to  be  drawn  on  from  England  and  Scotland  to  ensure 
success,  —  a  part  of  the  plan  which  looked  practicable, 
for  even  then,  while  New  Lanark  was  prosperous,  an 
industrial  crisis  was  coming  on  and  factories  were 
beginning  to  shut  down. 

The  recurrence  of  a  crisis  in  the  industrial  world 
with  all  its  attendant  miseries  brought  the  fact  home 
to  Owen  how  little  bearing  the  reform  of  one  village 
by  placing  its  factory  on  a  partially  co-operative  basis 
had  on  the  general  situation.  He  aspired  to  remedy 
universal  ills,  and  for  even  an  attempt  at  that  there 
must  be  a  widely  extended  movement.  We  need  not 
follow  him  on  his  communistic  crusade,  which,  begun 
in  1817,  was  zealously  pushed  for  twenty-five  years, 
further  than  to  note  what  deep-seated  social  unrest 
was  behind  the  masterful,  if  mistaken,  efforts  of  this 
first  English  socialist  to  set  up  in  the  British  isles  and 
in  America  a  new  order  of  things.  He  thought  a 
few  industrial  societies  on  a  communistic  basis,  estab- 
lished here  and  there,  would  prove  their  superiority 
over   the   old   order   so   conclusively   that   the   whole 


26  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

world  would  shortly  be  led  to  follow  suit.  Thinking 
that  the  new  societies  might  best  be  begun  in  a  new 
country,  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1825,  and, 
with  an  eye  to  great  things  in  the  future,  purchased 
30,000  acres  on  the  Wabash  river  in  the  southwest 
county  of  Indiana  as  the  seat  of  his  New  Harmony 
community.  About  the  same  time  a  disciple  started 
a  community  near  Glasgow,  and  later  two  other  ex- 
periments were  made.  But  none  of  these  attained 
anything  like  the  solid  success  of  the  New  Lanark 
enterprise  which  stood  on  another  foundation.  The 
leader's  philosophy  was  inferior  to  his  energ>',  his 
theories  were  not  workable,  and  his  efforts  to  make 
them  work  stand  now  only  as  sad  protests  against 
evils  not  to  be  abolished  in  his  way. 

FURTHER    SOCIALISTIC    SPECULATIONS    AND 
EFFORTS    AT    REFORM 

The  schemes  of  Saint-Simon  and  of  Owen  proving 
abortive,  the  former  through  failure  ever  to  reach 
the  practical  stage,  the  latter  from  demonstrated  im- 
practicability, the  fighting  center  of  the  class  struggle 
swerved  again  to  the  political  arena.  In  1830  the 
French  people  got  strength  to  rise  and  dethrone  a 
king  who  was  seeking  by  all  that  in  him  lay  to 
undo  what  was  left  of  the  work  of  the  Revolution 
and  restore  the  status  quo  ante.  Upon  the  fall  of 
Charles  X.  the  aristocracy  definitively  disappeared  as 
a  ruling  power  in  France,  giving  place  to  the  bour- 
geoisie, or  middle  class,  with  the  proletariat,  or  wage- 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ///d      27 

workers,  rising  into  the  opposing,  revolutionary  party. 
Modifications  of  communistic  theories  and  plans  of  or- 
ganization already  referred  to,  with  original  features 
skilfully  worked  out,  sprang  up  and  had  some  vogue, 
fascinating  here  and  there  little  circles  of  high-minded 
people  to  whom  the  flagrant  injustice  and  the  economic 
failure  of  the  existing  order  were  obvious.  But  the 
speculations  of  Fourier  and  Considerant  and  the 
dreams  of  Cabet,  while  producing  some  temporary  re- 
sults in  America,  had  little  influence  in  France.  There 
attention  was  fixed  on  the  new  government  and  the 
great  things  it  was  expected  to  accomplish.  Socially 
considered,  what  it  really  did  was  to  bring  the  bour- 
geois to  the  front ;  shifting  the  preponderance  of 
classes,  and  in  the  direction  of  liberalism.  Follow- 
ing quickly  upon  the  revolution  in  France  came  an 
uprising  in  Belgium  resulting  in  independence.  Con- 
temporaneous was  the  celebrated  Reform  Act  in  Eng- 
land, changing  the  basis  of  the  franchise,  extending 
the  influence  of  the  middle  class,  and  taking  from 
the  landowning  aristocracy  the  direct  supremacy  in 
the  conduct  of  affairs  which  they  had  before  en- 
joyed. Their  further  rule  was  made  indirect,  conceded 
only  out  of  ingrained  English  deference  to  lords  and 
gentlemen.  Great  forward  stages  in  mechanical  in- 
vention also  distinguished  this  period,  multiplying  and 
perfecting  the  instruments  of  industry  and  of  com- 
merce. It  was  in  1830  that  the  first  passenger  rail- 
way-train was  propelled  by  a  locomotive,  inaugurating 
that  swift  and  facile  movement  of  people  from  place 


28  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  place  which  has  been  so  allied  with  quickened 
mental  movements.  The  need  of  better  facilities  for 
education  was  at  once  felt,  and  steps  were  taken  to 
meet  it.  The  abolition  of  slavery  in  all  the  British 
colonies  followed  in  1833,  and  two  years  later  came 
the  reform  of  municipal  corporations. 

In  the  United  States  the  material  advances  of  the 
time  were  yet  more  notable.  The  chief  cities  were 
connected  by  railroads,  the  coal  deposits  of  Penn- 
sylvania began  to  be  opened  up,  the  smelting  of  iron 
ore  rose  to  great  importance,  steamboats  turned  lakes 
and  rivers  into  highways  of  commerce.  As  by  the 
touch  of  an  enchanter's  wand,  the  vast  wildernesses 
to  the  W^est  were  transformed  into  the  homes  of 
teeming  millions.  The  telegraph  came,  and  seemed  to 
complete  an  age  of  marvel.  Never  had  civilization 
had  anything  like  such  an  expansion.  With  all  this  ma- 
terial progress  went  an  intellectual  awakening  hardly 
less  remarkable,  A  literary  epoch  began.  Statesman- 
ship of  a  high  order  loomed  up,  masterful  orators 
stood  in  Congress,  on  public  platforms,  and  in  city 
pulpits.  Popular  education  was  improved  and  richly 
endowed  in  the  North  and  West.  Benjamin  Lundy 
and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  entered  upon  their  heroic 
struggle  with  the  slave  power  which  from  its  seat 
in  the  South  had  acquired  a  strange  dominance  over 
the  whole  country,  —  appalling  shadow  upon  an  other- 
wise smiling  picture.  Only  the  little  band  of  re- 
formers —  indomitable  light-bearers  —  were  in  line 
with  the  world-movement  sure  at  length  to  sweep  all 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ijjd      29 

before  it.  A  less  conspicuous  but  really  significant 
sign  of  the  times  was  the  outbreak  of  the  anti-renters 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  who  rose  against  the  last 
remnant  of  feudalism  there,  and,  though  checked  for 
a  time  by  military  authority,  carried  their  case  into 
the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1846  and  won  it. 

In  1838  there  broke  out  in  England  a  political  move- 
ment known  as  "  Chartism,"  from  its  manifesto,  "  The 
People's  Charter,"  led  by  a  few  radical  members  of 
Parliament  and  backed  by  the  "  Workingmen's  Asso- 
ciation." The  reforms  insisted  on  were :  annual  par- 
liaments, universal  suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,  abolition 
of  property  qualification  for  membership  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  payment  of  members,  and  equal  elec- 
toral districts.  O'Connell  lent  to  the  cause  the  might 
of  his  eloquence,  holding  monster  meetings  in  the 
great  cities,  and  England  for  a  time  was  fairly  shaken 
to  its  center  by  the  propaganda.  Though  the  move- 
ment collapsed  in  1848,  apparently  from  English  dread 
of  revolution,  in  the  throes  of  which  half  of  Europe 
then  was,  the  demands  of  the  Chartists  have  since 
been  considered  reasonable,  and  in  a  measure  they 
have  been  granted. 

LOUIS    BLANC    AND    THE    CRISIS    OF    1 848 

The  social  crisis  that  came  on  toward  the  middle 
of  the  century  had  been  foreseen  by  close  observers. 
There  was  little  doubt,  either,  where  the  first  rum- 
blings would  be  heard.  Paris  was  the  effervescing 
center  of  disturbance  from  which  emanated  the  spirit 


30  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  revolution.  Thither  from  1840,  men  of  all  nations, 
eager  to  get  light  and  cast  light  on  the  social  situation, 
were  making  pilgrimage  to  replenish  their  lamps, — 
Lassalle,  Marx,  Bakunin,  and  others  destined  to  stand 
conspicuously  before  the  world.  They  wanted  to 
know  what  meant  the  amazing  contradiction,  patent 
to  all  eyes,  of  wide-spread,  crying  want  in  the  midst 
of  abounding  plenty.  There  had  been  in  all  civilized 
lands  a  period  of  unwonted  prosperity,  astonishing 
development  of  natural  resources,  immense  increase 
of  production,  vast  accumulation  of  wealth;  and  yet 
the  condition  of  the  great  body  of  the  workers  had 
by  no  means  been  correspondingly  improved.  What 
little  ameliorations  of  their  lot  were  to  be  seen  had 
been  granted  with  aggravating  reluctance  and  after 
a  struggle  disgracefully  long.  Only  gray-headed  men 
could  remember  when  began  the  philanthropic  effort 
in  behalf  of  little  children,  women,  and  men  driven 
day  and  night  in  factories  and  mines,  with  working 
hours  that  had  no  definite  limit  short  of  the  complete 
exhaustion  of  the  workers ;  and  not  even  yet  had 
anything  like  justice  been  wrung  from  employers 
grown  rich  out  of  these  abuses.  Still  there  was  not 
a  conscious  class  war,  for  neither  employers  nor  em- 
ployed were  banded  together.  Each  person  was  for 
himself,  his  hand  against  every  other  man,  and  every 
other  man's  hand  against  him.  Unrestricted  com- 
petition was  working  itself  out  in  hideous  results, 
making  ravenous  beasts  of  men,  even  of  men  natur- 
ally  disposed   to   be   kind    and   gentle.      Commercial 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ///d      31 

interests,  left  to  take  their  own  course,  —  the  vaunted 
rule  of  laissez  faire,  —  had  eventuated  in  a  civiliza- 
tion having  on  one  side  the  aspect  of  barbarism,  pre- 
senting the  rankest  contrasts  of  riches  and  poverty 
that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Of  the  actual  situation 
as  it  came  under  his  own  eyes,  Louis  Blanc  wrote: 

"  Never  had  society  been  abandoned  to  such  dis- 
orders as  now  afflicted  it  under  the  direction  of  its 
official  guides.  There  was  an  incessant  strife  of 
masters  for  the  command  of  the  market,  of  work- 
men for  the  command  of  employment;  of  the  masters 
against  the  workmen  for  the  fixing  of  wages,  of 
workmen  against  the  machine  destined  (as  they  be- 
lieved) to  destroy  by  superseding  them.  Such  is  a 
summary  of  the  situation,  viewed  in  its  industrial 
aspect,  brought  about  by  the  system  of  free  com- 
petition. What  a  picture  of  social  disorder!  the  great 
capitalists  winning  out  in  the  strife,  as  the  strong 
battalions  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  principle  of 
'  free  for  all '  leading  to  results  as  ruinous  as  are 
reached  by  the  most  odious  monopolies;  the  great 
manufacturers  and  the  great  merchants  driving  small 
establishments  to  the  wall;  usury  by  degrees  gaining 
possession  of  the  soil  —  a  modern  feudality  more 
odious  than  the  old ;  independent  artisans  giving  place 
to  those  who  are  mere  serfs;  capital  engulfing  itself 
with  shameless  avidity  in  the  most  perilous  under- 
takings ;  all  interests  armed,  one  against  another.  The 
working  classes  presented  a  spectacle  utterly  pitiful,  — 
the  poor   helper   of   a   master-workman,   in   a   crisis. 


32  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

seeking  subsistence  by  beggary  or  by  theft;  the  dis- 
placed workman's  father  going  at  sixty  years  to  die 
in  a  hospital ;  his  sixteen-year-old  daughter  prosti- 
tuting herself  for  a  livelihood;  his  son  doomed  to 
breathe,  from  seven  years  of  age,  the  contaminated 
air  of  great  workshops  to  add  to  the  meager  earn- 
ings of  the  family ;  the  improvidence  of  misery,  and 
the  miserable  workers  without  work,  menacing  the 
kingdom  with  an  inundation  of  beggars !  Such  was 
the  material  condition  of  society.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  people, 
no  attachment  to  traditions ;  the  rampant  spirit  of 
inquiry  denying  everything,  affirming  nothing,  and 
acknowledging  no  other  religion  than  the  love  of  gain. 
Human  life  had  no  sanctity,  human  feebleness  no 
claim.  Stand  opposite  the  factories  and  see  every 
morning  at  five,  about  the  doors  and  pressing  in,  a 
crowd  of  pale,  sickly  children  with  downcast  eyes  and 
livid  cheeks,  walking  heavily  and  stooped  like  old 
men.  The  social  system  founded  on  competition  is 
to  such  a  degree  cruel  and  insensate  that  it  not  only 
stifies  the  intelligence  and  depraves  the  disposition  of 
the  poor  children,  it  even  stunts  and  withers  their 
physical  life." 

What  a  picture  of  the  state  of  society  in  France 
on  the  eve  of  the  revolution  of  1848!  Does  any  one 
wonder  that  a  time  of  overturning  drew  nigh? 

In  similar  language  thirty  years  before,  Saint-Simon 
had  spoken  of  the  condition  of  the  toilers.  He  pitied 
them  with  a  great-heartedness  as  rare  as  it  is  beauti- 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776      33 

ful,  and  devised  an  elaborate  scheme  for  their  succor 
and  elevation.  But,  ignorant  and  debased  as  they 
were,  he  saw  no  way  in  which  they  could  help  them- 
selves, could  not  think  of  proposing  to  give  them  a 
free  hand.  They  were  to  be  lifted  up  and  guided, 
he  thought,  by  the  generous  action  in  their  behalf 
of  the  upper  and  the  better  instructed  class.  As  these 
largely  professed  to  be  followers  of  Jesus,  this  gra- 
cious disinterestedness  seemed  not  too  much  to  ask 
of  them.  But  when  with  great  clearness  and  force 
he  pointed  this  out  to  them  as  their  Christian  duty, 
they  made  no  response  whatever.  We  are  not  sur- 
prised ;  no  response  could  reasonably  be  expected 
of  them.  Here  and  there  by  exception  a  well-to-do 
individual  will  be  found  ready  to  forego  his  own 
private  interests  and  give  his  life  to  some  great  cause, 
but  classes  do  not  act  in  that  way ;  it  is  puerile  to 
expect  it  of  them.  Saint-Simon  had  counted  all  too 
much  on  the  possible  disinterestedness  of  the  aristo- 
crats. His  representation  that  it  was  in  their  power 
to  abolish  in  great  part  the  misery  of  the  lower  half 
of  the  world,  even  if  it  convinced,  did  not  move  them. 
They  felt,  if  anything,  a  revulsion  against  any  such 
proceeding,  since  it  must  diminish  their  distinction 
as  the  better  fed  and  clothed,  housed  and  instructed 
class. 

When  in  1848  the  fall  of  the  bourgeois  king  of 
France  brought  the  proletariat  momentarily  to  the 
front  with  their  needs  and  their  cry  for  work  by 
which  to  earn  their  bread,  Louis  Blanc,  who  eight 


34  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

years  before  had  formulated  a  plan  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  labor  under  the  direction,  not  of  an  aristocracy 
but  of  the  democracy,  brought  the  substance  of  his 
scheme  forward  to  be  enacted  into  the  law  of  the 
land.  The  conditions  of  the  moment  were  favorable 
for  a  hearing  in  the  degree  that  they  were  menacing 
to  the  life  of  the  young  republic.  The  Parisian  work- 
ingmen,  living  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  were  des- 
perate in  their  demands  for  measures  of  relief.  They 
were  part  of  the  democracy  to  which  the  bill  com- 
mitted the  direction  of  the  proposed  industrial  organ- 
ization, and  as  great  as  was  their  stake  in  it  was 
their  urgency  for  it.  Under  the  stress  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  as  a  concession  to  an  element  that  must 
be  appeased,  a  majority  of  the  legislative  assembly 
voted  some  of  the  provisions ;  the  government  under- 
took to  provide  work  for  the  unemployed;  estab- 
lished workshops,  got  the  idle  busy,  hushed  the  cry 
for  bread ;  but  half-hearted  in  these  measures,  re- 
sorting to  them  only  to  smooth  over  a  crisis,  it  delib- 
erately mismanaged  their  execution  to  bring  them 
into  disrepute.  The  beneficiaries,  ignorant  and  short- 
sighted, played  into  the  hands  of  their  betrayers, 
making  no  effort  to  put  the  government  shops  on  a 
productive,  paying  basis.  In  consequence  of  these 
wasteful  proceedings,  taxes  rose,  and  the  country  dis- 
tricts sent  up  to  the  new  National  Assembly  a  strongly 
conservative  majority  which  closed  the  workshops. 
Thereupon  the  workmen  to  the  number  of  some  50,000 
took  up  arms  in  a  formidable  insurrection  which  was 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ly/d      35 

suppressed  only  after  the  most  obstinate  fighting  ever 
known  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  raging  for  two  days 
and  three  nights,  and  costing  the  lives,  it  is  said,  of 
more  Frenchmen  than  even  the  bloodiest  of  Napoleon's 
battles. 

In  justice  to  Louis  Blanc  it  must  be  said  that  this 
terrible  denouement  of  the  French  labor  troubles  of 
1848  is  nowise  chargeable  to  him.  What  exactly 
would  have  happened  if  his  plan  of  industrial  organ- 
ization had  been  fully  instituted  and  faithfully  carried 
out,  no  one  can  tell ;  but  that  it  would  have  been 
something  wholly  different  from  what  did  happen, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  will  not  do  to  point  to  that 
fearful  fight,  in  reprobation  of  all  departures  from 
the  dicta  of  orthodox  political  economy.  He  contem- 
plated something  more  than  providing  a  living  for 
some  120,000  workmen;  he  proposed  that  they  should 
be  put  to  useful  labor,  that  they  should  become  pro- 
ducers instead  of  consumers  only  —  consumers,  too, 
at  the  expense  of  the  public ;  and  if  the  authorities 
had  had  the  wish  and  the  wisdom  to  so  arrange  affairs, 
something  beneficent  might  have  come  out  of  the  plan, 
and  the  workmen  would  have  had  no  occasion  to  rise 
in  revolt.  After  a  fair  test  the  scheme  could  have 
been  modified  as  experience  might  indicate  the  need, 
or  finally  rejected  as  a  demonstrated  error. 

The  coup  d'etat  of  Louis  Napoleon  and  the  meas- 
ures of  repression  that  followed  under  the  rule  of 
that  hypocritical  and  unscrupulous  politician  (who  had 
been  himself  a  conspirator  and  as  a  professed  liberal 


36  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

posed  as  the  defender  of  the  people)  stifled  free  speech 
in  France,  put  an  end  to  any  open  effort  for  social 
reform,  any  systematic  development  of  public  schools, 
and  smothered  in  showy  constructions  and  pretentious 
international  politics  all  thought  of  the  real  elevation 
of  the  people.  The  surviving  leaders  of  reform, 
driven  out  of  the  country,  were  scattered  as  seed  over 
the  world.  Some  came  to  America;  others,  intent 
on  watching  from  near  by  the  course  of  events,  be- 
took themselves  to  Switzerland,  to  England,  and  to 
Germany.  In  London  particularly  the  banished  irrec- 
oncilables  from  all  over  the  continent  gathered,  and 
there  demonstrated  in  the  course  of  the  following 
years  more  effectively,  perhaps,  than  it  had  ever  been 
demonstrated  before  how  far  mightier  in  the  long 
run  is  the  pen  than  the  sword. 

LASSALLE,  PRINCE  OF  AGITATORS 

The  revolutionary  spirit  of  1848  had  swept  widely 
and  shaken  other  thrones  besides  that  of  Louis 
Philippe.  Thwarted  politically  in  Germany,  it  pur- 
sued its  course  socially,  with  results  which,  small  as 
they  looked  at  the  time,  have  turned  out  to  be  of 
the  first  importance.  The  man  who  on  the  ground 
brilliantly  led  the  incipient  movement,  creating  an 
epoch,  was  Ferdinand  Lassalle. 

Born  in  Breslau  in  1825,  son  of  a  wealthy  Jewish 
merchant,  he  enjoyed  the  best  of  early  opportunities, 
of  which  he  made  excellent  use.  As  a  student  he 
attracted   the   attention   of   the   great   in   the   learned 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ijjd      Z7 

world,  getting  from  the  famous  Humboldt  the  so- 
briquet of  Wunderkind  —  Wonderful  child.  His  pros- 
pects were  of  the  brightest ;  all  avenues  to  distinction 
lay  open  before  him.  Nevertheless  he  joined  the 
revolutionists  of  1848,  or  got  mixed  up  with  them; 
and  even  after  the  collapse  of  their  movement  in 
Berlin,  being  at  Dusseldorf,  he  advised  the  citizens 
not  to  give  up  the  contest.  For  this  he  was  seized 
and  thrown  into  jail  charged  with  treason.  Himself 
a  trained  lawyer,  he  managed  his  own  case  in  court, 
boldly  declaring  that  he  was  a  Social  Democrat,  and 
that  what  he  wanted  to  see  was  a  Socialist  Demo- 
cratic Republic ;  that  as  for  resisting  the  State  when 
the  State  is  in  the  wrong,  he  held  that  to  be  no  crime, 
but  the  citizen's  right  and  duty.  He  was  acquitted 
of  treason,  but,  on  a  charge  of  resisting  arrest,  an- 
other tribunal  sent  him  to  prison  for  six  months. 
When  at  the  expiration  of  that  period  he  would 
return  to  his  friends  in  Berlin,  he  found  the  way 
blocked  by  royal  decree.  After  seven  years  of  inef- 
fectual attempts  to  procure  a  revocation  of  this  banish- 
ment from  the  place  he  most  loved,  he  resolved  to 
disregard  it ;  he  would  return  under  another  name  and 
in  some  menial  occupation  rather  than  live  in  luxury 
elsewhere.  So  one  day  in  1857  he  appeared  in  the 
capital  attired  as  a  cartman,  somewhat  to  the  dismay 
of  his  friends.  The  king,  however,  seems  to  have 
thought  it  rather  amusing,  and  on  the  intercession 
of  an  influential  friend  suffered  the  audacious  demo- 
crat to  remain. 


38  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

A  cold  reaction  from  revolutionary  days  was  on^ 
and  Lassalle  accommodated  himself  to  it ;  plunged 
into  literai-y  activity,  producing  numerous  philosophi- 
cal pamphlets,  satires,  essays  on  current  politics, — 
uncertainly  biding  his  hour.  Years  passed  in  this 
way,  until  it  began  to  seem  that  this  "  lion  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah  "  was  really  tamed.  Then  it  happened 
that  he  was  called  on  to  deliver  a  lecture  to  the 
Working-men's  Society  in  Berlin  on  "  The  Connection 
between  the  Present  Epoch  of  History  and  the  Idea 
of  the  Working  Class."  This  subject  led  him  out 
again  upon  dangerous  ground,  and  he  treated  it  with 
such  boldness  that  there  followed  another  prosecution 
by  the  government,  and  another  term  of  imprison- 
ment. These  events  brought  him  prominently  into 
view  as  the  champion  of  the  proletariat,  and  on  his 
release  from  prison  led  to  his  being  invited  to  address 
a  General  Working-men's  Congress  at  Leipzig  in 
February,  1863.  The  address  which  was  sent,  and 
which  took  the  form  of  a  letter,  sketched  a  political 
programme  for  the  working  class;  and  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  Social  Democratic  movement  in  Ger- 
many. 

At  that  time  considerable  effort  was  being  made 
to  better  the  condition  of  the  German  workers  and 
soothe  the  rising  agitation  among  them  by  organizing 
co-operative  associations  in  various  branches  of  pro- 
duction. The  leader  of  this  movement,  a  man  of 
means  and  generous  impulses,  and  a  few  others,  were 
doing  what  they  could  to  erect  the  buildings  required 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  iyj6      39 

and  to  procure  the  necessary  implements;  but  as  the 
workers  forming  the  associations  had  nothing,  ade- 
quate funds  were  constantly  lacking,  and  results  were 
generally  unsatisfactory.  Lassalle  set  himself  firmly 
against  the  plan,  pointing  out  that  it  must  inevitably 
fail,  since  the  co-operative  establishments,  poorly 
equipped  from  lack  of  means,  must  come  into  com- 
petition with  great  concerns  furnished  with  the  very 
best  facilities  for  production.  This  disadvantage  must 
first  of  all  be  disposed  of ;  help  must  come  from  some 
more  efificient  source ;  it  must  come  from  the  State. 
And  to  bring  this  about  there  must  be  a  great  political 
agitation ;  the  working-men  and  their  friends  must 
form  themselves  into  a  party  and  fight  as  best  they 
can  for  universal  suffrage.  That  obtained,  all  they 
will  have  to  do  is  to  speak  with  one  voice,  and  every 
reasonable  demand  will  be  granted  by  the  govern- 
ment. The  first  crying  need  of  the  people  is  relief 
from  the  iron  and  cruel  wage-system  by  which  capital 
is  taking  to  itself  an  ever-increasing  share  of  the 
results  of  production.  He  contended  that  the  only 
real  relief  from  this  monstrous  wrong  must  come 
through  co-operative  production,  associated  labor  in 
the  place  of  hired  labor ;  which,  to  be  fairly  estab- 
lished and  given  an  even  chance  of  success,  must  be 
introduced  by  State  help  and  on  State  credit.  The 
State  grants  subsidies  to  start  railways,  to  encourage 
steamship  lines,  to  develop  agriculture,  to  promote 
manufactures ;  where  then  is  the  harm  if  the  State 
do  a  similar  service  to  the  great  working  class,  who 


40  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

are  in  fact  not  a  class  but  almost  the  State  itself, 
being  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  population, 
and  much  more  deserving  of  an  uplift,  a  bonus,  than 
any  railway  or  steamship  line.  Being  themselves 
practically  the  State,  there  is  no  beggary  in  their  call- 
ing on  the  State  for  assistance.  State  help  in  such 
a  case  would  be  self-help.  He  concluded  his  letter 
with  an  appeal  to  all  laborers  to  work  tooth  and  nail 
for  universal  suffrage,  for  they  must  have  the  right 
to  vote  before  they  could  exert  any  direct  influence 
on  the  government.  For  them  universal  suffrage  was 
a  question  of  subsistence,  appealing  directly  to  the 
stomach. 

Strong  an  utterance  as  this  was,  there  was  at  the 
time  little  response.  The  Leipzig  committee  to  which 
it  was  addressed  approved,  as  did  here  and  there  an 
advanced  thinker  about  the  country;  but  the  press 
generally  denounced  it,  and,  strange  to  say,  the  work- 
ing-men too.  In  Leipzig  alone  they  were  with  him; 
and  so  overwhelmingly  that  when,  a  little  later,  he 
went  there  to  address  them  and  get  their  expression, 
only  seven  out  of  an  audience  of  thirteen  hundred 
voted  against  him.  Thus  encouraged,  he  set  out  upon 
a  regular  propaganda.  In  May,  1863,  he  founded  the 
General  Working-men's  Association,  whose  avowed 
object  was  the  promotion  of  universal  suffrage  by 
peaceful  agitation.  He  was  himself  the  soul  of  the 
organization,  and  pushed  it  with  a  determination  and 
a  tireless  energy  all  his  own.  He  traveled  the  coun- 
try  over,    speaking   wherever   an   audience   could   be 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  ij'jd      41 

assembled,  trying  to  organize  branch  associations;  he 
wrote  and  published  much,  circulating  also  with  a 
free  hand  the  writings  of  other  socialist  leaders.  It 
took  endless  repetition  to  get  the  new  ideas  into  the 
heads  of  the  slow  German  laborers,  but  once  a  thought 
was  lodged,  it  took  root  and  spread.  As  commonly 
happens  in  work  for  so  general  a  principle,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  tolerate  all  manner  of  disagree- 
ment in  secondary  matters  for  the  sake  of  unity  on 
the  main  purpose.  Vagaries  of  the  wildest  descrip- 
tion cropped  out  everywhere  to  try  the  patience  of  a 
broadly  educated,  clear-headed  leader,  but  he  bore 
with  them,  demanding  agreement  only  on  one  thing  — 
the  necessity  of  universal  suffrage.  That  gained,  he 
trusted  time  and  reflection  to  take  care  of  the  rest. 

For  even  the  first  step  in  this  enterprise  there  was 
needed  a  strong  organization,  strong  at  least  in  num- 
bers. Lassalle  thought  that  with  the  support  of  one 
hundred  thousand  voices  his  request  for  so  just  a 
concession  to  the  working-men  might  get  the  ear  of 
the  government.  But  this  preliminary  organization 
proved  a  very  difficult  undertaking.  With  all  the  labor 
he  put  upon  it  and  all  he  could  get  others  to  put 
upon  it,  it  went  discouragingly  slow.  After  three 
months  of  unremitting  solicitation  only  one  thousand 
members  were  obtained,  —  provoking  his  reproachful 
outcry :  "  When  will  this  foolish  people  cast  aside 
their  lethargy  ?  "  But  he  would  not  be  turned  from 
his  purpose  by  the  aggravating  indifference  of  those 
he   sought  to  serve ;    the   harder  the  task  the  more 


42  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

energetically  he  would  lay  hold  of  it.  Still  the  visible 
results  continued  meager;  after  a  year  of  further 
work  his  Association  and  its  branches  counted  only 
4610  members,  and  Lassalle  himself  began  to  fear  that 
nothing  effective  would  come  of  his  plan.  But  his 
influence  had  gone  deeper  than  the  figures  indicate. 
Many  other  thousands,  while  standing  aloof,  had 
been  moved  by  the  socialist  lecturer,  had  seen  the 
generous  ardor  of  his  soul,  felt  the  force  of  his  rea- 
soning and  the  winsome  charm  of  his  speech ;  and 
to  these,  though  to  the  living  teacher  they  did  not 
commit  themselves,  the  shock  of  his  tragic  and  un- 
timely death  came  as  a  decisive,  irresistible  call  to 
declare  their  adhesion,  and  the  Social  Democracy,  as 
we  shall  later  see,  rose  apace. 

KARL    MARX 

The  fires  of  social  discontent  through  all  the  event- 
ful mid-years  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  fanned 
by  that  greatest  of  agitators  and  thinkers  on  these 
lines,  Karl  Marx.  German  by  birth,  at  twenty-four 
years  of  age  he  was  editor  of  a  radical  journal  at 
Cologne,  the  suppression  of  which  in  1843  led  him  to 
remove  to  Paris.  There  he  continued  his  German  news- 
paper under  another  name  until  expelled  from  France 
in  1845.  Going  then  to  Brussels,  he  was  driven  in  turn 
from  Belgium.  Returning  to  Cologne,  he  commenced 
there  the  publication  of  another  journal,  which  soon 
brought  him  under  the  condemnation  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  he  was  obliged  definitely  to  leave  his  native 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  17/(5      43 

land.  Thus  banished  from  every  part  of  the  conti- 
nent where  he  had  sought  domicil,  he  went  over  to 
England  and  established  himself  in  London  in  1850, 
where  till  his  death  in  1883  he  continued  his  work 
undisturbed.  Under  his  leadership  socialism  assumed 
an  international  character  which  greatly  extended  its 
influence.  A  veritable  fellowship  among  the  workers 
of  all  lands  was  instituted,  giving  new  depth  and 
vigor  to  the  movement  as  well  as  a  world-wide  sweep, 
lending  to  previously  isolated  holders  and  defenders 
of  the  new  ideas  a  much  needed  encouragement  and 
support.  A  powerful  organization  was  formed  — 
The  International  —  which  held  its  meetings  where 
it  could,  and  became  the  besetting  terror  of  absolut- 
ism in  government. 

Linking  the  peoples  together,  socialism  naturally 
makes  for  peace  among  the  nations.  But  in  1870  it 
had  not  become  enough  of  a  power  to  prevent  a  need- 
less and  wicked  war.  The  poor  workers,  who  have 
nothing  to  do  with  making  war,  but  bear  the  brunt 
of  it  when  it  is  made,  rallied  on  both  sides,  fought 
and  bled  and  died,  as  their  class  has  ever  done,  for 
the  phantom  going  by  the  name  of  glory.  The  world 
looked  on  with  admiration  of  the  victors,  or  sympathy 
for  the  vanquished,  with  little  disapproval  of  those 
whose  machinations  brought  on  the  conflict.  But 
when  at  the  end  the  working-men  of  Paris  rose  in 
assertion  of  what  they  held  to  be  their  own  rights, 
and  fought  for  a  principle,  for  autonomy  in  city  gov- 
ernment, as  London,  or  New  York,  or  Chicago  would 


44  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

do  if  dominated  by  the  State  as  Paris  was,  the  world 
stood  aghast,  horrified  at  the  spectacle.  And  when 
the  Commune  was  crushed  under  such  monstrous 
atrocities  as  it  had  never  dreamed  of  perpetrating, 
such  in  fact  as  had  rarely,  if  ever,  disgraced  modern 
civilization,  the  same  world  looked  on  complacently. 
The  number  of  working-men  slaughtered  was  far 
greater  than  in  1848,  and  the  slaughter  was  greatly 
more  inhuman,  as  it  included  thousands  of  the  cap- 
tured. As  many  more  were  deported  to  die  in  malari- 
ous regions. 

THE  UNREST  PROVOKED  BY  MORE  RECENT 
CONDITIONS 

The  uprising  of  the  Commune  of  Paris,  though  not 
distinctively  a  socialist  movement  (the  socialists  in  it 
were  a  small  minority),  was  attended  with  such  de- 
struction, such  horrors  —  obscuring  the  equal,  even 
greater  horrors  of  its  suppression  —  as  to  discredit 
for  a  time  all  efforts  to  bring  the  working-men  for- 
ward into  the  control  of  affairs,  and  gave  the  socialist 
propaganda  a  serious  set-back.  This,  however,  was 
only  temporary.  The  unprecedented  increase  of 
wealth,  becoming  more  and  more  astonishing,  and  the 
corresponding  augmentation  of  the  evils  of  capitalism, 
arouse  in  reflecting  minds  of  the  present  generation 
a  feeling  of  profound  and  well-nigh  universal  dis- 
content. That  the  bulk  of  this  newly  created  wealth 
falls  into  the  hands  of  a  comparatively  few  persons, 
while  the  great  mass  of  the  workers  out  of  whose 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  i/yd      45 

toil  it  comes  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  is  a  fact  which 
to  the  latter  and  to  all  lovers  of  social  justice  cannot 
but  be  the  more  exasperating  the  more  it  is  consid- 
ered. In  the  United  States,  where  of  late  riches  have 
most  rapidly  multiplied,  more  than  half  the  wealth  is 
now  reported  to  be  in  the  hands  of  one  per  cent,  of 
the  population ;  creating  an  aristocracy  most  mena- 
cing to  democratic  institutions.  When  these  people 
reach  over  the  heads  of  the  rest  of  us  and  direct  the 
making  and  the  administration  of  law,  as  they  are 
beginning  to  do,  what  will  it  avail  to  call  this  a  re- 
public and  ours  a  republican  form  of  government? 
In  the  general  eagerness  to  get  hold  of  dollars  men 
are  found  to  let  go  of  all  higher  considerations ;  and 
if  at  the  polls  numbers  continue  to  count  for  some- 
thing, with  legislatures  the  one  per  cent,  who  hold 
the  great  fortunes  often  count  for  more,  and  manage 
with  alarming  frequency  to  bear  down  the  expressed 
wish  of  the  people.  The  merging  of  corporations  and 
the  general  swallowing  up  of  minor  business  interests 
are  fast  bringing  the  capital  of  the  country  where  it 
can  act  unitedly  in  any  emergency,  and  where,  acting 
with  the  sagacity  and  freedom  from  moral  restraint 
which  inhere  in  it,  it  will  inevitably  be,  if  present 
tendencies  go  on,  the  "  power  behind  the  throne." 

In  the  meantime  the  multitude,  possessors  of  little 
or  nothing,  are  in  a  state  of  bewilderment  and  deep 
dissatisfaction.  The  better  wages  paid  in  America, 
the  unavoidable  participation  of  the  great  part  of  the 
people    in    the    advantages    of    a    rapidly    developing 


46  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

country,  have  contributed  thus  far  to  bring  a  consid- 
erable measure  of  comfort  to  some  of  them;  but  one 
has  only  to  go  into  the  large  cities  or  into  the  great 
manufacturing  centers  to  find  that  there  are  thousands 
upon  tens  of  thousands  of  whose  lot  no  such  pleasant 
thing  is  to  be  said.  Corporations  rolling  in  wealth 
witness  (if  things  which  proverbially  have  no  souls 
may  be  supposed  to  have  eyes)  without  compunction 
the  squalor  in  which  live  the  operatives  out  of  whose 
toil  others  are  made  rich  —  witness  it,  and  compla- 
cently go  on  declaring  generous  dividends.  Under 
such  circumstances  community  of  interest  between 
employers  and  employed  cannot  exist;  on  the  con- 
trary, incessant  antagonism  arises,  breaking  ever  and 
anon  into  open  war. 

Strike  follows  strike  on  both  sides  of  the  sea,  re- 
curring quite  as  frequently  in  our  country  where 
wages  are  highest  as  elsewhere,  indicating  that  the 
provoking  cause  lies  deeper  than  in  the  inadequacy 
of  wages  paid,  —  lies  in  the  wage-system  itself,  which 
does  not  directly  relate  the  reward  of  labor  to  the 
value  of  the  product  of  that  labor. 

As  yet  we  have  not  in  this  country  given  so  much 
attention  to  social  questions  as  have  the  people  of 
some  of  the  European  countries.  These  questions 
have  been  less  pressing  here,  partly  because  life  in 
America  has  been  generally  easier  for  the  poor. 
Population  being  less  crowded,  opportunities  for  em- 
ployment have  been  better;  a  great  work  of  develop- 
ment  has   called   loudly    for   labor;     food   has   often 


Social  Unrest  Since  the  American  Era  1776      47 

been  cheaper,  making  subsistence  less  precarious. 
But  we  are  behind  in  this  matter  chiefly  for  another 
and  very  different  reason.  At  the  very  time  when 
Lassalle  in  Germany  and  Marx  from  his  covert  in 
England  were  laying  down  the  principles  of  the  great 
social  reconstruction  and  waking  Europe  to  the  strife 
for  new  social  ideals,  we  were  absorbed  with  the 
belated  slavery  question,  elsewhere  long  before  dis- 
posed of  by  enlightened  nations.  It  was  a  social 
question,  a  social  evil,  we  had  to  deal  with ;  but  we 
dealt  with  it  politically,  and  with  weapons  of  war. 
So  it  came  about  that  though  slavery  was  in 
form  abolished,  the  social  question  involved  in  it 
remained  unsettled,  —  remained  under  the  new  con- 
ditions even  more  acute  and  more  disturbing  than 
ever.  The  artificial  juxtaposition  of  races  so  dis- 
tinct —  instituted  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  a  state 
of  society  so  different  from  that  which  has  su- 
pervened, a  daily,  hourly  contact,  become  repug- 
nant but  not  possibly  to  be  avoided  —  turns  into  a 
source  of  the  gravest  difficulties,  and  is  calculated 
to  render  the  administration  of  political  and  social 
justice  on  the  boasted  American  principle  of  equal 
rights,  even  where  attempted,  a  failure  if  not  a 
mockery. 

While  in  the  progressive  countries  of  Europe  mil- 
lions are  awake  and  astir  for  a  better  social  order, 
in  many  quarters  all  good  citizens  combining  efficiently 
for  purity  in  municipal  government,  establishing  mu- 
nicipal ownership  of  public  utilities,  introducing  new 


48  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

and  revolutionary  fiscal  ideas;  incorporating,  in  short, 
in  law  and  custom  many  of  the  principles  of  social- 
ism^ —  xve  have  to  confess  a  shameful  backwardness 
along  some  of  these  lines.  We  are  not  as  inquiet 
under  existing  conditions  as  we  ought  to  be.  We  are 
too  generally  indifferent  where  we  have  reason  to  be 
profoundly  concerned;  too  free  from  that  trouble- 
some but  saving  Unrest  which  is  the  generator  of 
progress,  the  I'is  medicatrix  naturce  for  social  ills. 

But  there  are  indications  in  this  present  time  that 
public  sentiment  is  at  a  turning  point  with  us.  Every 
now  and  then  a  voice  is  heard  from  an  unexpected 
quarter,  chiming  in  with  voices  more  familiar,  calling 
upon  a  people  so  great  in  spite  of  their  faults,  and 
having  such  unrivaled  opportunities  for  greatness  yet 
unattained,  to  get  uneasy  at  the  spectacle  of  munici- 
pal corruption,  of  graft  and  criminal  greed,  almost 
daily  brought  to  light,  and  to  consider  from  what 
is  exposed  what  must  be  the  unmeasured  extent  and 
what  the  baseness  deep  and  damning  of  that  which 
remains  under  cover.  It  is  beginning  to  be  more 
commonly  seen  and  said  that  Mammon-worship  is 
threatening  the  destruction  of  a  people  whose  start 
among  the  nations,  whose  geographical  situation,  the 
productivity  of  whose  soil,  the  extent  of  whose  ter- 
ritory, and  the  imperishable  glory  of  certain  of  whose 
heroes,  should  go  far  to  make  the  happiest  and  best 
in  the  world.  Let  us  hope  the  warning  will  be  heeded 
in  time ! 


CHAPTER    II 

AN   UNCONSCIOUS   SOCIALISM   MAKING   ITS   WAY 
IN    LAW   AND    CUSTOM 

The  two  fundamental  purposes  of  socialism  are: 
collective  ownership  of  the  instruments  of  produc- 
tion—  land,  factories,  utensils,  machinery,  —  lifting 
labor  out  of  bondage  to  capital ;  and  the  abolition, 
or  great  restriction  of,  inheritance,  so  that  every  per- 
son may  (except  in  so  far  as  natural  endowments 
differ)  have  approximately  an  equal  chance  in  the 
world.  These  objects  appear,  to  those  who  have  can- 
didly considered  them,  so  eminently  desirable,  so 
imperatively  demanded  by  simple  fairness  and  de- 
cency, and  —  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  ones  to  be 
benefited  are  an  overwhelming  majority  —  so  attain- 
able withal,  at  least  in  a  democracy,  as  to  have 
encouraged  the  expectation  that  they  are  to  be  speedily 
realized.  Brilliant  writers  have  ventured  to  indicate 
quite  definitely  the  period  within  which  we  might 
look  for  the  fulfilment  of  our  hopes,  the  coming  of 
the  social  revolution.  These  calculations  impress  us, 
after  having  lived  past  one  and  another  of  the  dates 
set  without  seeing  anything  of  the  kind  taking  place, 
much  as  do  the  determinations  certain  lugubrious 
people  are  always  making  of  the  last  day  and  the 
end  of  the  world.  At  present  socialists  generally 
are  coming  to  doubt  that  the  substitution  of  a  new 


50  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

social  order  for  the  old  is  to  be  brought  about  by  a 
sudden  overturning;  to  think  rather  that  the  end  is 
to  be  reached  by  the  gradual  processes  of  evolution 
now  going  on  under  their  eyes,  —  processes  whose  be- 
ginning is  hidden  in  a  far  distant  past,  which  have 
been  accelerated  in  our  day,  but  not  so  as  to  bring 
the  consummation  w-ithin   sight. 

If  this  is  the  method  on  which  the  social  order  is 
to  be  changed,  the  history  of  the  changes  that  have 
already  taken  place,  could  it  be  laid  before  us,  would 
be  of  the  greatest  value.  From  the  direction  and  ten- 
dency of  past  modifications,  especially  those  of  recent 
date,  we  might  be  able  reasonably  to  infer  something 
as  to  what  is  to  follow,  might  find  ground  to 
strengthen  our  hopes  on  long  lines,  however  it  might 
fare  with  our  enthusiasms  touching  immediate  results. 
Such  a  history  is  beyond  the  limits  of  this  work,  and 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  a  hurried  glance  over 
a  most  interesting  field. 

PRIMITIVE    COMMUNISM 

Whatever  has  been  done  at  any  time  by  any  people, 
or  by  their  representatives,  directly  for  the  public 
benefit  or  for  the  relief  of  a  dependent  class,  is  in 
its  nature  socialistic.  Never  a  highway  constructed, 
or  a  path,  for  whatever  human  feet  may  need  to  take 
it,  blazed  through  a  forest,  but  is  to  be  so  charac- 
terized. Public  improvements,  that  is,  improvements 
made  for  the  general  good  and  for  no  ulterior  private 
or  political   end,   are   socialistic   improvements.     The 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Custom       51 

•church,  and  the  cathedrals  which  are  its  monuments, 
so  far  as  they  serve  the  whole  people,  and  at  any  rate 
as  regards  those  they  do  serve,  have  a  socialistic 
quality ;  as  do  all  brotherhoods  and  their  temples 
where  men  meet  on  equal  terms  and  pledge  them- 
selves to  mutual  services.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of 
schools,  from  the  first  of  them  that  ever  was  estab- 
lished. The  family,  where  all  are  lodged  in  one 
house,  eat  at  one  table,  draw  upon  a  common  store, 
material  and  spiritual,  to  which  they  severally  con- 
tribute, is  the  very  prototype  of  the  communistic 
social  order,  —  unless  we  prefer  to  give  that  distinc- 
tion to  the  tribe  in  the  early  stages  of  its  development. 
For  the  tribe  in  those  stages  was  distinctly  commun- 
istic. Not  only  was  the  territory  occupied  —  prin- 
cipally serving  for  hunting  and  fishing  —  a  common 
possession  for  all  members  of  the  tribe;  it  could 
not  by  any  sale  be  alienated  from  them  to  cut  them 
off  from  its  use  for  those  purposes,  as  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Pennsylvania  found.  The  rudest  savages 
lived  in  huts  which  were  only  nominally  private 
property,  belonging  about  equally  to  all  other  mem- 
bers of  the  tribe.  The  more  developed  tribes  built 
them  communal  habitations  of  considerable  size,  ca- 
pable often  of  sheltering  several  hundred  persons.  In 
some  of  the  islands  of  the  South  Pacific,  La  Perouse 
came  upon  tribal  houses  three  hundred  and  ten  feet 
long  by  thirty  feet  in  width  and  twenty  feet  high, 
having  the  appearance  of  an  inverted  boat.  An  en- 
trance  at   each   end   opened   into   a  passage-way,   on 


52  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

either  side  of  which  were  the  lodgings  of  the  com- 
munity. In  the  CaroHnes  these  constructions  were 
found  of  dimensions  to  house  as  many  as  seven  hun- 
dred. The  "  long  houses  "  of  the  Iroquois  described 
by  Morgan  were  of  similar  form  and  belonged  to 
the  whole  community  of  occupants.  Similarly,  though 
in  more  grandiose  fashion,  lived  the  clifif-dwellers  of 
Mexico.  All  around  the  world  the  settlements  of 
these  various  peoples  antedating  civilization  had  their 
provisions  in  common,  lived,  cooked,  and  ate  as  a 
single  family.  Lafargue  cites  *  from  Heraclites,  a 
Greek  writer  of  the  fourth  century  b.  c,  a  description 
of  people  then  living  on  the  island  of  Crete  where 
archaic  customs  persisted  remarkably,  going  to  show 
that  they  had  at  that  time  a  well  elaborated  com- 
munism. It  seems  to  have  been  the  universal  form  of 
society  among  primitive  peoples,  from  whom  a  few 
tribes  have  brought  it  down  to  our  time.  If  to  the 
wild  man  anything  approaches  the  nature  of  private 
property,  it  is  naturally  what  he  gets  possession  of 
by  his  own  personal  effort,  his  fish  and  game;  but 
we  are  told  by  observers  on  the  ground  that  even 
these  things  he  does  not  regard  as  his  own  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  members  of  the  gens ;  he  scrupu- 
lously puts  his  catch  at  the  disposal  of  the  whole 
community. 

Only  the  strongest  races  and  races  most  favorably 
located  were  able  without  grave  disaster  to  renounce 


*  La  Propriete,  p.  327. 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Custom       53 

the  obvious  and  great  advantages  coming  from  pos- 
session in  common  of  whatever  good  the  earth  has 
to  offer.  As  it  is,  even  in  countries  where  soil  and 
climate  are  of  the  best,  we  are  in  a  measure  aware 
how  close  to  starvation  and  extinction  the  workers 
at  times  have  come  under  the  system  which  sets 
ever}-  man  grasping  for  what  there  is  in  sight,  even 
to  the  food  that  feeds  his  neighbor's  children.  In 
regions  greatly  less  favorable  for  maintaining  an  ex- 
istence we  find  the  primitive  communism  holding  on 
because  it  could  not  be  renounced  without  entailing 
the  destruction  of  the  tribe.  The  Esquimaux  are  a 
case  in  point.  Commander  Peary,  who  has  lived 
among  them  and  studied  them  intimately  these  eight- 
een years,  says :  "  I  hope  no  efforts  will  ever  be  made 
to  civilize  them.  Such  efforts,  if  successful,  would 
destroy  their  primitive  communism,  which  is  necessary 
to  preserve  their  existence.  Once  give  them  an  idea 
of  real-estate  interest  and  personal-property  rights  in 
houses  and  food,  and  they  would  become  as  selfish  as 
civilized  beings ;  whereas  now  any  game  larger  than  a 
seal  is  the  common  property  of  the  tribe,  and  no  man 
starves  while  his  neighbors  are  gorging  themselves. 
If  a  man  has  two  sets  of  hunting  implements,  he 
gives  one  of  them  to  the  man  who  has  none.  It  is  this 
feeling  of  good  fellowship  which  alone  preserves  the 
race."  * 

Citation  of  facts  of  this  kind  is  not  made  to  support 


Hampton's  Magazine  for  February,   1910,   p.    173. 


54  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialisjn 

Rousseau's  theory  of  the  superiority  of  the  savage 
state  over  the  civilized,  but  to  show  that  collective 
possession  of  the  earth  and  of  its  productions  is. 
the  basis  of  social  existence  to  which  man  naturally 
comes. 

ORIGIN    OF    PRIVATE    PROPERTY 

In  course  of  time,  however,  the  more  hardy,  best 
located  tribes  developed  the  idea  of  private  property^ 
first  in  things  movable,  things  the  holder  had  him- 
self made  or  found,  things  useful  in  the  chase,  in 
building  a  house,  in  preparing  food,  things  comfort- 
able to  wear,  or  ornamental  to  the  person.  The 
first  houses  constructed  separately  for  single  families 
were  slight  affairs,  easily  movable,  and  so  passed 
readily  enough  into  the  new  category  of  private  prop- 
erty ;  and,  later  on,  with  the  house  went  the  ground 
on  which  it  stood,  together  with  a  surrounding 
patch  of  land  rudely  cultivated,  which  in  time  came 
to  be  inclosed  by  a  stockade  or  a  rough  wall  "of  stone. 
The  transition  to  all  this,  we  may  be  sure,  was  slow, 
especially  the  last  step  of  it,  changing  the  tenure  of 
land ;  for,  while  the  notion  of  private  ownership 
in  what  one  has  produced  with  one's  own  hands  was 
a  simple  inference  easy  to  arrive  at,  it  was  most  diffi- 
cult for  early  man  to  conceive  how  exclusive  title 
could  lie  in  land  any  more  than  in  water  or  air.  It 
came  to  him  hard,  and  it  was  accepted  reluctantly,, 
only  after  thousands  of  years.  The  Russian  peasant 
has  not  accepted  it  yet. 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Laiv  and  Custom       55 

In  the  earlier  stage  when  there  were  no  distinctions 
of  rich  and  poor,  men  won  their  rank  by  their  prow- 
ess, their  endurance,  their  might  of  Hmb,  their  gifts 
of  speech  and  of  leadership,  —  gifts  of  superiority 
nowhere  definitely  transmissible  from  father  to  son, 
least  of  all  in  a  rude  society  given  to  promiscuity  in 
all  relations ;  consequently  the  great  at  their  death 
surrendered  their  greatness  to  the  tribe  instead  of 
passing  it  down  through  a  line  of  successors.  There 
was  no  way,  under  such  circumstances,  in  which  a 
dominating  class  could  be  built  up.  As  soon,  how- 
ever, as  private  property  came  to  be  recognized  and 
began  to  accumulate,  distinction  of  classes  began  to 
show  itself,  not  prominently  at  first  or  for  a  long 
time,  for  the  first  great  inequalities  of  wealth  must 
have  been  very  slow  in  appearing;  but  little  by  little, 
through  violent  appropriation  of  what  belonged  to 
others,  the  chiefs  and  their  favorites  came  to  be 
distinguished  for  their  possessions,  ordinarily  more 
than  for  anything  else,  and  were  able  to  transmit 
this  distinction  to  their  children.  The  chief  became 
a  king;  an  hereditary  nobility  grew  up  along  with 
an  hereditary  monarchy. 

FEUDALISM 

This  was  the  beginning  of  what  is  known  as  feu- 
dalism. We  find  it  in  full  swing  in  Europe  in  the 
middle  ages,  by  which  time  the  barons,  and  the  king, 
who  was  chief  among  them,  had  taken  possession  of 
all  the  land  not  already  in  the  hands  of  the  church, 


56  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

and  of  whatever  else  seemed  to  them  desirable. 
Speaking  of  England  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  century, 
Ramsay  says :  "  Everything  belongs  either  to  the  king 
or  the  lord.  Thus  in  England  the  national  peace  is 
now  the  king's  peace;  the  State  domain  —  the  folk- 
land  —  is  terra  regis.  The  township  has  become  the 
lord's  manor,  the  township  waste  the  lord's  waste, 
the  township  court  the  lord's  court."  And,  quoting 
Stubbs :  "  Land  has  become  the  sacramental  tie  of 
all  public  relations;  the  poor  man  depends  on  the 
rich,  not  as  his  chosen  patron,  but  as  the  owner  of 
the  land  he  cultivates,  the  lord  of  the  court  to  which 
he  does  suit  and  service,  the  leader  whom  he  is 
bound  to  follow  to  the  host."  It  was  an  enormous 
distinction  that  existed  between  this  nobility  and 
their  underlings,  of  which  the  very  structures  speak 
in  which  these  quasi-monarchs  passed  their  days. 
More  or  less  in  ruins,  but  massive  and  majestic  still, 
they  are  every  one  a  fortress  built  to  withstand  a 
siege,  perched  often  on  a  well-nigh  inaccessible  height, 
frowning  on  all  the  region  around.  For  these  lords 
distrusted  one  another  as  do  modern  nations,  and 
like  them  stood  in  instant  readiness  for  a  mortal  com- 
bat. The  common  herd  on  whom  fell  the  drudgery 
in  time  of  peace,  in  time  of  war  did  the  fighting, 
the  bleeding  and  dying,  proud  of  the  glory  of  their 
overlords,  well  content  to  be  the  soldiers  and  serfs  of 
such  mighty  men.  They  cultivated  for  their  own 
maintenance  each  a  little  glebe  allotted  them  by  the 
great   landlord ;    in    return    for   which    and    for    his 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Custom       57 

powerful  protection,  they  devoted  themselves  for  a 
prescribed  part  of  the  year,  without  further  compen- 
sation, to  the  work  of  carrying  on  his  extensive 
agricultural  and  other  operations,  and  gave  him  also 
unrestricted  military  service  as  occasion  might  require. 
It  was  a  condition  only  a  step  above  slavery,  but 
having  this  one  advantage :  it  made  the  toiler's  se- 
curity from  starvation  depend  on  his  ow^n  diligence 
in  the  cultivation  of  the  ground  allotted  for  his  ex- 
clusive use.  This,  w'hile  it  did  not  lessen,  but  tended 
rather  to  increase  the  severity  of  his  toil  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  slave,  did  give  a  moiety  of  independ- 
ence, and,  for  that  major  part  of  the  time  that  he 
was  his  own  master,  a  basis  for  self-respect.  He 
need  not  starve,  as  in  a  crisis  one  who  depends  on 
wages  may. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  BOURGEOISIE 

Between  these  extremes  of  feudal  society  were  the 
artisans,  the  tradesmen,  the  professional  people,  form- 
ing a  middle  class  which  enjoyed  a  few  privileges 
denied  the  humbler  sort.  As  time  went  on,  as  manu- 
facture and  commerce  slowly  developed,  this  middle 
class  increased  in  numbers,  acquired  wealth,  came  to 
waeld  an  influence.  The  feudal  lords  felt  a  new  and 
portentous  breath  moving  upon  the  dead  waters  of 
medisevalism,  and  began  to  lose  their  grip  on  the 
world ;  and  when,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  great  epoch  of  steam-power  and  labor- 
saving    machinery    came,    bringing   upon    the    scene 


58  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

manufacturing  and  merchant  princes  rivaling  them 
in  wealth  and  leaving  them  out  of  sight  behind  in  en- 
terprise, the  days  of  feudalism  were  numbered.  The 
old  order  went  down,  but  not  without  a  struggle, 
for  it  was  entrenched  in  custom  and  had  behind  it 
the  arm  of  civil  authorit}'.  Here  and  there  the  change 
was  inaugurated  by  a  bloody  revolution ;  but  every- 
where it  came,  whether  by  sudden,  violent  outbreaks 
or  peacefully  by  slow  degrees,  and  the  epoch  of  in- 
dustrial capitalism,  which  still  continues,  was  ush- 
ered in.  Before  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  middle  class  was  everywhere  politically  in  the 
ascendant.  They  transformed  absolutism  in  all  civi- 
lized countries  into  constitutional  government.  As 
some  of  them  grew  vastly  rich,  they  assimilated  by 
affinity  all  that  was  left  of  the  old  order,  and  created 
themselves  —  or  within  themselves  —  a  new  aristoc- 
racy ;  so  ceasing  to  be  a  middle,  and  becoming  the 
upper  class,  with  only  the  proletariat  and  friends  of 
the  proletariat  in  opposition.  The  social  outcome  of 
it  all  was,  a  new  form  of  oppression,  so  certain  is  it 
that  whoever  gets  on  top  will  play  the  tyrant. 

EFFECT    OF    THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

The  revolution  of  the  world's  system  of  industry 
brought  about  in  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century  by  the  substitution  of  machine  for  hand  work, 
of  great  factories  for  simple  domestic  production  in 
multitudinous  scattered  homes,  had  the  effect  not 
only  to  leave  many  without  work,  but  to  crowd  the 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Laiv  and  Custom       59 

rest  into  great  centers  of  industry  where  they  ex- 
changed the  independence  of  manufacturers  producing 
their  own  wares  with  their  own  implements  in  their 
own  houses,  for  the  dependence  of  people  with 
absolutely  nothing  of  their  own,  asking  to  work 
under  conditions  which  enabled  the  employer  to 
stipulate  not  only  the  wages  to  be  paid  but  the  hours 
to  constitute  a  day's  labor,  with  the  natural  result 
that  wages  went  to  a  minimum  and  the  hours  to  a 
maximum.  Inevitably,  with  the  Manchester  doctrine 
of  laisscz  faire  in  undisturbed  operation,  the  factories 
became  houses  of  torture,  where  men  and  women  and 
little  children  were  worked  on  the  least  possible  wage 
and  for  all  there  was  in  them.  When  Shaftesbury 
in  the  House  of  Commons  set  out  to  correct  these 
abuses  by  statute  he  was  stoutly  opposed  by  no 
less  noble  men  than  Jjohn  Bright  and  Richard  Cob- 
den.  At  that  time  Cobden's  annual  income  from 
his  factory  is  said  to  have  been  between  $40,000 
and  $50,000,  and  yet  he  was  unwilling  that  night 
work  of  children  nine  years  of  age  should  be 
prohibited,  or  that  the  working  day  of  children 
should  be  reduced  to  twelve  hours.  What  shall 
be  said  of  a  system  that  leads  good  men  to  act 
in  that  way  —  that  in  England  yielded  to  humane 
factory  legislation  only  after  some  fifty  years  of 
struggle?  But  we  have  to  note,  as  a  socialistic  idea 
working  its  way  into  law,  that  measures  were  finally 
carried  that  have  remedied  an  outrageous  situation, 
though  not  bringing  the    working    day    in    factories 


60  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

down  to  the  reasonable  length  of  eight  hours.  How- 
ever, the  socialistic  idea  involved  in  the  action  lies, 
not  so  much  in  the  measure  of  relief  afforded,  as  in 
the  assertion  of  the  principle  that  it  is  the  business 
of  a  government  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the 
people,  especially  of  the  poor  and  the  defenseless, 
and  not  permit  a  vicious  economic  system  to  grind 
the  lives  out  of  them. 

STATE    SUPERVISION    OF    INDUSTRIES 

The  capitalist  theory  stoutly  adhered  to  through 
that  great  crisis  of  industry  was,  that  there  should 
be  no  State  interference  with  business  enterprises, 
no  regulation  by  State  authority.  In  a  free  country, 
it  was  said,  every  man  must  be  permitted  to  run  his 
own  business.  But  once  the  hideous  results  of  such 
a  theory,  applied  to  work  in  factories  and  mines, 
was  brought  to  light  through  ofificial  invasion  of  those 
sacred  precincts,  the  way  was  open  for  State  super- 
vision of  many  other  industries.  Disregarding  the 
dicta  of  certain  economists  and  the  loud  protests  of 
capitalists,  the  State,  from  that  time,  has  been  reach- 
ing its  interfering  hand  out  farther  and  farther,  until 
now  in  almost  every  country  it  has  under  inspection 
and  control  practically  all  industrial  operations,  with 
a  tendency  to  take  more  and  more  of  them  com- 
pletely over  into  its  own  management.  Twenty  odd 
years  ago  Mr.  Sidney  Webb  enumerated  fifty-four 
lines  of  activity  which  were  registered,  and  for  the 
most  part  inspected,  criticized,  and  regulated,  by  the 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       61 

English  government,  adding  this  list  of  enterprises 
brought  under  more  rigid  control :  railways,  tram- 
ways, ships,  mines,  factories,  canal-boats,  public 
conveyances,  fisheries,  slaughter-houses,  dairies,  milk- 
shops,  bakeries,  baby-farms,  gas-meters,  schools  of 
anatomy,  vivisection  laboratories,  explosive  works, 
Scotch  herrings,  and  common  lodging-houses ;  and 
unmistakably  to  this  day  in  his  country  the  super- 
vision becomes  ever  more  all-embracing.  If  some- 
thing less  in  the  way  of  State  interference  and  super- 
vision is  to  be  seen  in  our  own  country,  there  is  a 
marked  tendency  in  the  same  direction  which  can- 
not long  leave  us  much  behind.  Every  year  adds  to 
the  statutes  based  on  the  socialistic  principle  that 
the  welfare  of  the  people  is  the  supreme  aim  of  law ; 
that  to  the  attainment  of  this  end  all  private,  indi- 
vidual interests  must  be  made  to  bend,  —  statutes 
designating  the  hours  and  the  occupations  in  which 
children  may  be  employed,  making  cruel  treatment  a 
misdemeanor;  statutes  to  insure  purity  of  food  of- 
fered for  sale,  to  put  restrictions  on  the  vending  of 
dubious  nostrums ;  statutes  regulating  or  prohibiting 
the  traffic  in  intoxicants ;  statutes  to  curb  the  power 
of  trusts,  to  stay  the  greed  of  railroad  companies 
and  other  carriers,  —  and  much  other  legislation  of 
a  wholly  new  order,  designed  to  protect  the  public 
from  the  wiles  of  the  powerful  and  the  unscrupulous. 
In  France  and  Germany  and  the  smaller  States  of  the 
North  of  Europe,  legislation  of  this  kind  has  gone 
even  much  further,  trenching  more  decidedly  on  the 


62  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

old  fancy  that  one  has  the  right  to  do  what  one  will 
with  one's  own;  the  assumption  seeming  to  be  that 
what  one  possesses  is  not  exclusively  one's  own ;  that 
it  is  so  far  common  property  as  to  give  to  the  com- 
munity a  voice,  at  some  points  even  a  controlling 
voice,  in  the  management  of  it.  Houses  must  be 
kept  in  sanitary  condition  and  in  good  repair,  lawns 
reasonably  free  from  weeds  and  properly  dressed, 
forests  even  scientifically  cared  for,  all  highways 
made  fit  alike  for  princes  and  for  people,  as  perfect 
in  point  of  utility  and  as  fair  to  the  eye  as  may  be. 
Unsightly  quarters  of  cities  are  unceremoniously 
wiped  out  as  with  a  sponge  by  municipal  authority, 
and  structures  satisfactory  to  the  communal  taste 
ordered  up.  One  cannot  pass  through  these  lands 
without  getting  a  sense  that,  w'hoever  may  hold  the 
title-deeds,  an  imperial  power,  known  as  the  Will  of 
the  People,  intervenes  and  compels  the  administration 
of    property   with    some   view   to   the   common   good. 

CONDUCT    OF    INDUSTRIES    BY    THE    STATE 

From  State  regulation  of  industries  it  is  an  easy 
step,  one  would  say,  to  the  conduct  of  industries 
by  the  State ;  and  yet  this  latter  was  nowhere  under- 
taken without  misgivings,  the  ingrained  notion  be- 
ing that  any  such  proceeding  is  hazardous,  sure  to 
be  wasteful  and  costly ;  that  a  corporation  of  any 
sort,  national  or  other,  is  by  its  very  nature  unfitted 
in  general  for  the  conduct  of  affairs.  The  older 
economists  were  disposed  to  think  banking  and  insur- 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazu  and  Custom       63 

ance  the  only  lines  of  business  that  could  be  carried 
on  by  joint-stock  companies ;  but  now  these  corpor- 
ations are  doing  every  imaginable  kind  of  business, 
and  fast  making  obsolete  the  personal  management 
of  investments  by  the  investors  themselves.  This 
course  of  things  alone  is  enough  to  unsettle  confidence 
in  the  dictum  that  industrial  enterprises  generally 
cannot  be  successfully  carried  on  by  the  State.  The 
greater  includes  the  less,  and  the  greatest  corporation 
of  all  can,  presumably,  do  whatever  the  inferior 
corporations  are  doing.  And  this  is  not  a  merely 
theoretical  inference.  The  State  has  long  been  show- 
ing ability  to  do  other  things  besides  making  and 
enforcing  laws,  insuring  domestic  tranquillity,  carry- 
ing on  wars,  going  through  the  routine  of  civil  admin- 
istration. For  instance,  it  established  and  conducts 
great  systems  of  public  education,  in  which  line  of 
w^ork  America  long  since  demonstrated  the  superi- 
ority of  State  management  over  any  other  tried  or 
conceivable  method  of  procedure.  In  our  admirable 
free-school  system,  which  in  the  more  advanced 
States  includes  kindergarten  and  university,  with 
books  and  all  equipment,  we  have  a  set  of  perfectly 
socialistic  institutions  established  and  working  with 
eminent  success,  the  pride  and  chief  glory  of  the 
nation.  Time  was,  and  that  too  quite  within  the 
memory  of  some  of  us,  when  in  the  back  districts 
there  was  grumbling  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
childless  rich  that  they  were  taxed  to  help  educate 
the   children   of    the    poor,  —  a    socialistic   proceeding 


64  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

which  Herbert  Spencer  was  among  the  last  to  frown 
upon,  —  but  which  now  even  the  rudest  have  come 
to  approve,  the  newest  States  making  the  amplest 
provision  for  free  public  schools. 

The  post-office  is  another  example  of  a  public  serv- 
ice, immensely  important  and  of  vast  dimensions, 
carried  on  in  all  countries  by  the  State,  and  in  a 
more  satisfactory  manner  than  it  could  otherwise 
be  done.  In  our  country  it  is  one  of  the  largest 
businesses,  probably  the  largest,  measured  by  the 
number  of  persons  employed,  which  must  now  be 
not  far  from  220,000.  *  The  efficiency  and  precision 
of  the  system  in  all  of  its  many  ramifications  are 
matters  of  astonishment  when  account  is  taken  of 
the  number  of  pieces  of  mail  handled  and  the  extent 
of  territory  covered.  Done  at  cost,  even  far  below 
cost,  the  work  is  clearly  socialistic,  as  indeed  it  was 
before  ever  the  word  "  socialism  "  was  coined,  f  With 
so  striking  an  illustration  of  the  advantages  of  State 
management  at  hand,  the  wonder  is  that  telegraph 
and  telephone  lines  and  railway  systems  have  not 
been  taken  over,  as  has  so  largely  been  done  in  other 
countries. 

employers'  liability 

The    granting    of    pensions    to    soldiers    who    have 
served  in  war  is  now  the  general  practice  of  nations. 


*The   official   report    for    1906  made   it  205,258. 
t  In  1835,  says  Kirkup. 


Uncojiscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       65 

carried  by  the  United  States  government  to  a  high 
degree  of  liberality.  Time  was,  and  that  not  so  very 
long  since,  when  working-men  —  the  class  that  make 
up  the  bulk  of  all  armies  —  returning  disabled  from 
wars,  had  no  recourse  but  to  go  to  the  poor-house 
or  beg  on  the  street ;  a  fact  which  made  it  worse 
to  survive  than  to  die  on  the  field.  The  outrageous- 
ness  of  this  spectacle  Vv^as  one  of  the  things  that 
impelled  Sir  Thomas  More  to  write  his  Utopia,  his 
gentle  soul  the  while  taking  refuge  in  an  imaginary 
world  from  the  sight  of  abominations  confronting 
him  in  the  real  world.  In  our  better  day,  thanks  to 
a  wide  though  mostly  unconscious  infusion  of  social- 
istic ideas  in  law  and  custom,  governments  frankly 
assume  that  the  nation  at  large  is  justly  chargeable 
with  the  injuries  incurred  by  its  citizens  in  military 
service;  and  while  in  very  many  cases  the  injuries 
received  are  beyond  what  money  can  make  good,  the 
policy,  at  least  in  this  country,  is  to  err  on  the  side 
rather  of  lavishness  than  of  meanness. 

This  open  assumption  by  the  people  of  liability 
for  physical  impairment  resulting  to  men  in  the  pub- 
lic service,  carried  with  it  irresistibly  the  liability  of 
all  other  employers ;  and  now  in  civilized  countries 
generally  this  principle,  so  obviously  just  that  it  has 
always  been  in  some  measure  acted  on  voluntarily 
by  the  more  conscientious  employers  of  labor,  is  made 
legally  enforceable.  Nothing  was  ever  done  or  at- 
tempted more  manifestly  socialistic.  Hence  Em- 
ployers'   Liability    Acts    have    been    and    are    being 


66  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

opposed  vehemently  by  the  powerful  class  whose 
responsibilities  they  materially  increase.  The  most 
ridiculously  absurd  objections  have  been  raised  :  that 
workmen  would  intentionally  maim  themselves  in 
order  to  become  a  charge  to  their  employers ;  that 
this  self-mutilation  would  go  on  to  such  an  extent 
as  seriously  to  impair  the  industries,  crippling  the 
workmen  bodily  and  the  employers  financially !  But 
nothing  stays  this  movement  for  social  justice  ;  it 
goes  everywhere  forward.  Even  Spain  now  has  its 
Employers'  Liability  law. 

THE    STATE    SOCIALISM    OF    BISMARCK 

A  most  remarkable  illustration  of  the  power  of 
socialist  principles  to  sway  the  mind  of  even  an  in- 
veterate antagonist  of  the  party,  is  afiforded  by  the 
later  political  career  of  Prince  Bismarck.  The  "  Iron 
Chancellor"  was  by  instinct  and  training  an  autocrat; 
had  a  horror  of  having  the  people  take  a  free  hand 
in  the  government  of  the  State,  and  any  good  thing 
in  which  they  led  was  to  him  bad.  The  good  things, 
to  be  good,  must  be  inaugurated  by  the  head  of  the 
State  and  carried  out  by  him.  The  people  proposing 
the  same  things  were  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  or 
even  a  crime.  In  1887  two  attempts  on  the  life  of 
the  aged  emperor,  falsely  said  to  have  been  instigated 
by  inflammatory  utterances  of  socialist  speakers,  af- 
forded, as  he  thought,  the  opportune  moment  for 
an  effort  despotically  and  by  violent  measures  to 
suppress   the   Social   Democratic  party.     Accordingly 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       67 

he  had  a  law  passed  prohibiting  any  speaking  or 
writing  in  favor  of  any  plan  for  disturbing  the  ex- 
isting social  order ;  he  had  the  government  empowered 
to  proclaim  a  state  of  siege  in  large  towns,  and  to 
expel  from  them  by  mere  police  order  any  and  all 
suspected  of  socialist  agitation.  These  laws  were 
enforced  with  extreme  rigor;  Berhn  and  many  other 
cities  were  declared  in  state  of  siege,  socialist  litera- 
ture was  put  out  of  circulation,  —  could  not  be  read 
even  in  public  libraries ;  Lassalle  and  his  associates 
were  thrown  into  prison.  For  twelve  years  socialism 
was  propagated  in  Germany  only  through  secret  chan- 
nels and  by  stealth.  However,  it  was  not  much 
hurt,  —  helped,  perhaps,  in  the  end,  rather  than  hin- 
dered, 

Bismarck,  who  all  the  time  was  not  averse  to 
socialistic  ideas  provided  they  were  brought  forward 
and  applied  from  above  and  not  from  below,  turned 
finally  to  the  plan  of  forestalling  the  socialists  by 
himself  introducing  measures  looking  their  way.  He 
would  create  a  large  fund  to  be  used  for  the  relief 
of  poor  working-men.  To  do  this  he  had  the  gov- 
ernment establish  the  tobacco  monopoly,  declaring 
that  in  this  he  would  found  "  a  patrimony  for  the 
disinherited,"  whose  distress  and  discontent  he  (with 
the  socialists)  thought  arose  from  the  unrestricted 
influence  of  capital.  The  State  owed  them  some 
counterbalancing  aid.  In  this  position  he  fortified 
himself  with  two  extracts  from  the  Code  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  in  which  that  monarch,  without  being  sus- 


68  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

pected  of  fanaticism,  anticipated  by  some  sixty  years 
the  conceptions  of  Louis  Blanc :  — 

"  It  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  provide  for  the 
sustenance  of  those  of  its  citizens  who  cannot  pro- 
cure sustenance  themselves." 

"  Work  adapted  to  their  strength  and  capabilities 
shall  be  supplied  to  those  who  lack  means  and  oppor- 
tunity of  earning  a  livelihood  for  themselves  and 
those  dependent  on  them." 

Without  going  so  far,  he  did  undertake  something 
considerable  in  this  direction,  and,  what  is  most  re- 
markable, with  the  general  applause  of  the  old  parties. 
Laws  were  introduced  providing  State  insurance  of 
working-men's  lives,  old-age  pensions  for  the  needy 
arriving  at  seventy  years,  and  imposing  liability  for 
accidents  on  the  employers  of  labor.  Bismarck  also 
pushed  vigorously  State  ownership  of  railroads, 
hardly  a  line  in  Prussia  escaping  his  grasp,  with 
results  highly  advantageous  to  the  public,  —  lower 
fares,  better  management,  more  through  trains,  more 
satisfactory  connections.  Only  those  travelers  — 
mostly  rich  Americans  —  withhold  praise  who  want 
always  to  ride  in  state,  and  who  compare  unfavor- 
ably the  accommodations  offered  on  ordinary  trains 
in  Germany  with  the  luxurious  refinements  of  our 
"  palace  cars."  The  people  of  the  country,  however, 
appreciate  the  lighter  charge,  and  also  the  absence  of 
splendors  in  which  they  can  have  no  part. 

It  was  a  signal  tribute  to  the  principles  of  the 
Social  Democracy  that  so  many  of  them  should  have 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       69 

been  accepted  and  applied  by  this  inveterate  foe  of 
the  party  as  to  have  won  him  the  title  of  the  great 
State  Socialist. 

However,  in  measuring  the  power  of  Bismarck  in 
this  matter  it  needs  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
German  people  had  always  accepted  with  a  good 
grace  the  interference  of  the  government  in  indus- 
trial affairs.  The  State  had  long  been  a  great  land- 
owner, in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  income 
derived  from  its  farms  and  forests  sufificing  to  meet 
half,  or  even  more  than  half,  the  public  expenditures. 
It  holds  also  valuable  mines  which  it  works ;  has 
built  foundries,  breweries,  potteries ;  and  these,  with 
the  railroads  and  other  public  services,  make  the 
State  in  Germany  the  great  employer  of  labor.  And 
the  State  is  not  parting  with  any  of  these  properties; 
the  Crown  lands  it  is  adding  to,  half  conscious  that 
the  land  rightfully  belongs  to  the  whole  people,  and 
so  by  construction  to  the  government.  Bismarck  was 
no  more  socialistic  than  the  German  situation  and 
German  sentiment  compelled  him  to  be,  and  later 
developments  lead  us  to  think  he  might  have  been 
upheld  had  he  gone  very  much  further  in  that  direc- 
tion. 

SOCIALISTIC  ADVANCES    IN   VARIOUS    EUROPEAN    LANDS 

But  the  really  great  step  unconsciously  taken  in 
that  country  toward  socialism  lies  in  the  splendid 
provision  early  made  for  education.  While  yet  the 
other   principal   countries    of    Europe    were   disgrace- 


70  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

fully  backward  in  this  matter,  Germany  had  thor- 
oughly systematized  and  well  endowed  public  in- 
struction ;  had  made  the  first  stages  of  mental  training 
obligatory,  and  put  a  liberal  education  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest.  Denmark  took  the  same  atti- 
tude, and  Holland  was  not  far  behind.  In  these 
now  intellectually  foremost  countries  the  policy,  de- 
termined and  pronounced,  has  been  to  assure  to  the 
very  humblest  at  the  expense  of  the  State  some 
measure  of  the  best  things  in  the  world. 

In  Belgium,  where  socialism  has  reached  its  best 
development,  the  department  of  agriculture  long  since 
commenced  taking  over  the  distribution  of  milk  in 
cities,  the  need  of  a  more  thorough  inspection  and 
sterilization  than  could  otherwise  be  reached  making 
the  step  imperative.  It  has  resulted  beyond  a  ques- 
tion in  saving  the  lives  of  thousands  of  children. 
Railways,  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  have  been 
built  or  purchased  by  the  State  until  it  has  now  a 
practical  monopoly,  —  a  procedure  which  has  proved 
highly  advantageous  both  to  the  Belgian  public  and 
to  the  State  treasury. 

In  Switzerland  the  State  has  expropriated  the  dis- 
tilleries, and  purchased  at  great  cost  the  railways ; 
at  the  same  time  reorganizing  the  much  extended 
civil  service  in  such  a  manner  as  to  disconnect  it 
from  politics,  so  that  the  fall  of  a  party  produces 
no  disturbance  in  State  industries.  The  government 
of  men  and  the  administration  of  things  are  so  sep- 
arated as  not  to  interfere  with  each  other.     No  intel- 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Custom       71 

ligent  traveler  in  that  country  can  have  failed  to 
admire  the  working  of  the  system,  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic, and,  as  far  as  it  goes,  socialistic. 

In  Sweden  and  Norway  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  liquors  were  long  since  taken  under  rigorous  State 
control,  with  results  in  the  lessening  of  drunkenness 
eminently  gratifying.  The  complete  socialization  of 
production  and  trade  made  it  possible  for  the  re- 
formers to  hit  upon  the  happy  idea  of  depriving 
the  vendor  of  intoxicants  of  all  interest  in  swelling 
his  sales,  turning  him  in  fact  into  a  practical  advo- 
cate of  temperance,  and  holding  him,  by  the  strongest 
of  bonds  under  the  capitalistic  order  of  things  (the 
money  he  can  make),  fast  to  that  role,  —  an  idea 
which,  avoiding  any  shadow  of  fanaticism,  strikes 
straight  at  the  taproot  of  the  drink  evil  —  personal 
profit  in  the  sale  of  the  drink  —  fed  and  stimulated 
inordinately  by  licensing,  and  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  "  height  "  of  license. 

France,  since  the  disastrous  war  of  1870,  has  taken 
up  in  all  earnestness  the  work  of  public  education, 
before  largely  left  to  the  church,  and  consequently 
largely  a  failure.  The  State  now  endeavors  to  place 
within  the  reach  of  all  its  children  the  best  of  oppor- 
tunities, having  come  round  to  the  socialistic  idea  that 
it  has  in  them  the  greatest  stake  and  for  them  the 
greatest  responsibility.  To  meet  the  expenses  of  this 
enlightened  and  enlightening  undertaking,  and  to  pro- 
vide the  funds  for  pensioning  the  aged  needy  (with- 
out trenching  upon  the  building  of   war-ships,  which 


72  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

no  nation  seems  ready  to  renounce),  the  government 
increases  the  tax  upon  large  incomes  and  upon  in- 
heritance, provoking  denunciation  from  all  the  o]d- 
school  economists.  Speaking  of  this  movement  which 
came  to  a  head  at  the  same  time  in  France  and  in 
England  where  it  brought  on  a  crisis,  Leroy-Beaulieu 
terms  it  reproachfully,  "  The  Fiscal  Revolution,"  * 
while  plaintively  admitting  that  the  die  is  cast  beyond 
recovery.  It  is  the  work  of  socialist  wolves  in  the 
sheep's  clothing  of  moderate  men. 

During  the  same  period,  thanks  to  the  liberty  of 
speech  and  of  assembly  accorded  by  the  Republic, 
there  has  been  a  notable  development  of  working- 
men's  associations,  which,  as  they  become  welded 
together,  exercise  by  the  very  force  of  numbers  a 
considerable  measure  of  power,  and  have  been  able 
materially  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  working- 


*  See  his  article  under  this  title  in  the  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes  for  Dec.  1,  1909.  "  This  fiscal  Revolution  which 
is  about  to  mark  its  full  accomplishment  simultaneously  in 
France  and  in  England  has  disclosed  itself  under  its  brutal 
aspect  only  within  the  last  three  j-ears."  Citing  then  an 
English  act  of  1894  and  a  French  one  of  1901,  both  touching 
inheritance,  as  having  been  the  beginnings  of  trouble,  he 
continues :  "  These  breaches  of  the  principle  of  the  equality 
of  citizens  before  the  law  in  respect  of  imposts  singularly 
shook  the  financial  regime  which  the  legislators  of  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  and  of  all  the  nineteenth  century  had  with 
so  much  care  and  with  so  great  success  elaborated."  A 
voice  as  from  the  tombs  —  in  how  literal  a  sense  they  only 
can  know  who  have  heard  this  master  of  a  great  science 
in  its  dismal  interpretation  discourse  from  the  professor's 
chair. 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       75 

man,  increasing  his  self-respect,  enforcing  on  em- 
ployers the  payment  of  better  wages.  There  is  in 
fact  no  country  where  social  conditions  are  so  well 
advanced,  where  socialist  principles  are  so  much  in 
evidence,  to  so  marked  a  degree  incorporated  in  law 
and  custom. 

If  in  England  the  movement  has  been  slower,  it 
has  been  less  spasmodic,  more  patiently  persistent. 
Steadily  the  new  social  ideas  have,  as  we  have  seen, 
shaped  the  course  of  legislation  and  of  affairs.  An 
inefficient,  out-of-date  system  of  public  instruction, 
founded  on  the  old  economics,  is  being  reconsidered 
in  the  light  of  the  better  results  attained  in  this  and 
other  countries ;  an  Old  Age  Pension  law  is  well 
in  operation.  The  problem  of  the  unemployed  is 
forcing  home  the  socialistic  idea  of  opening  up  liter- 
ally new  fields  of  industry  by  the  expropriation  of 
great  deer-parks,  sequestered  now  for  the  amusement 
of  another  type  of  idlers.  To  lift  a  little  the  bur- 
den from  the  rest  of  the  nation  the  tax-gatherer  now 
reaches  over  with  additional  demands  upon  the  landed 
gentry.  The  doctrine  of  Henry  George,  already 
fruitful  in  some  of  the  colonies,  gets  an  incipient 
avowal  in  the  budget  of  Parliament,  shaking  the 
United   Kingdom   from  center  to  circumference. 

Speaking  of  the  work  of  the  London  County 
Council,  Munro  says  :  "  An  important  branch  of  the 
Council's  work  is  connected  with  the  erection  and 
maintenance  of  dwellings  and  lodging-houses  for  the 
working-classes.     The  statutes  require  that  whenever 


74  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  Council  displaces  any  population  in  order  to  make 
way  for  public  improvements,  it  shall  provide  for  the 
rehousing,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  of  an  equal 
number  of  persons.  In  addition  to  these  mandatory 
statutes  a  number  of  permissive  acts  have  empowered 
the  Council,  as  well  as  other  local  authorities,  to 
demolish  unsanitary  buildings  and  replace  them  by 
modern  structures,  due  compensation  being  of  course 
awarded  to  the  owners  of  the  expropriated  prop- 
erty. Under  both  of  the  above  classes  of  powers  the 
County  Council  has  embarked  extensively  upon  hous- 
ing schemes.  In  one  case  it  has  laid  waste  a  tract  of 
nearly  fifteen  acres  and  immediately  rebuilt  it  with 
model  tenements  that  now  accommodate  upwards  of 
five  thousand  persons.  Many  less  extensive  under- 
takings of  the  same  nature  have  been  put  through  by 
the  Council,  till  at  the  present  time  the  dwellings  and 
lodging-houses  which  it  has  provided  accommodate 
about  35,000  persons,  a  small  sized  city  of  them- 
selves." * 

Hungary,  which  beneath  an  aristocratic  surface,  an 
"  upper  crust,"  is  ardently  socialistic,  finds  its  gov- 
ernment occasionally  doing  things  which  set  the 
world  staring.  For  instance,  in  Budapest,  a  com- 
bination of  landlords  having  pushed  the  rent  of 
houses  for  common  people  excessively  high,  the  prime 
minister,  Dr.  Wekerle,  acting  for  the  government,  has 
just  built  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  a  model  village 
consisting  of  960  houses  —  4,300  flats  —  all  of  taste- 


*  Government  of  European  Cities,  p.  370. 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Custom       75 

ful  construction  and  with  modern  improvements,  de- 
signed to  accommodate  25,000  persons,  and  renting 
at  only  30  per  cent,  of  what  landlords  were  charging 
for  residences  less  desirable.  Dr.  Wekerle  would  not 
admit  being  a  socialist,  but  such  an  object  lesson  in 
socialism  has  not  before  been  given  by  any  national 
government.  And  it  was  given,  not  in  the  way  of 
a  social  experiment  or  from  any  prompting  of  "  ad- 
vanced ideas,"  but  simply  by  constraint  of  an  intol- 
erable economic  situation,  such  as,  under  the  existing 
order  of  things,  may  arise  any  day  in  any  city. 

THE    WORK    OF    MUNICIPALITIES    FOR    SOCIAL 
BETTERMENT 

This  action  of  the  Hungarian  premier  has  attracted 
much  attention  because  it  is  the  action  of  a  State 
government ;  done  by  a  municipality  it  would  have 
been  nothing  so  very  extraordinary.  It  is  to  munici- 
palities, therefore,  that  we  must  turn  for  the  more 
abounding  examples  of  what  we  must  call  unconscious 
embodiment  of  socialistic  ideas  in  law  and  custom. 
Our  cities  expend  such  large  amounts  for  the  main- 
tenance of  free  schools  as  to  dwarf  out  of  sight  the 
contribution  to  the  fund  derived  from  the  State,  — ■ 
amounts  that  may  well  amaze  observers  from  other 
countries.  A  fair  idea  of  what  they  are  doing,  at 
least  in  the  North  and  West,  may  be  drawn  from 
the  budget  for  schools  of  the  two  leading  cities.  For 
operating  expenses  alone,  Chicago  applies  about 
$8,000,000  annually,  and  New  York,  $23,000,000. 
These    generous    sums    do    not    include    the    millions 


76  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

spent  every  year  for  new  school  buildings  and  sites. 
The  old-fashioned  English  economists  would  have 
been  horrified  at  this  socialistic  use  of  the  taxpayers' 
money.  Probably  nine-tenths  of  the  beneficiaries  of 
these  vast  expenditures  are  children  whose  parents 
or  guardians  pay  not  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  tax ; 
but  this  counts  for  nothing,  the  accepted  theory  being 
that  it  belongs  to  the  community  to  provide  for  the 
education  of  all  its  children  without  the  slightest 
regard  to  the  financial  ability  or  inability  of  the  par- 
ents. The  accepted  theory  is  even  more  comprehen- 
sive, reaches  beyond  the  children,  and,  if  in  a  less 
systematic  way,  imposes  upon  the  community  the  duty 
of  providing  in  some  degree  for  the  instruction  of 
all  its  members.  To  this  end  we  have  free-libraries 
everywhere.  In  cities  they  are  richly  endowed,  and 
supplemented  by  museums  and  galleries  of  art.  all 
dedicated  freely  to  the  culture  and  delectation  of  the 
whole  people.  This  is  not  saying  that  these  good 
things  reach  all,  for  society  has  not  yet  so  perfected 
itself  that  every  one  has  time  or  strength  to  do  more 
than  provide  against  freezing  and  starving. 

Fire  and  police  protection,  plainly  communistic,  is 
universal  in  modern  cities,  and  no  one  could  ever 
think  of  dispensing  with  it.  The  same  is  to  be  said 
of  our  parks,  purchased  and  embellished  at  great 
cost,  open  to  all  comers.  They  have,  to  be  sure,  a 
restricted  private  commercial  bearing  which  a  school- 
building  or  an  engine-house  has  not,  in  that  they 
enhance  the  value  of  contiguous  property,  but  their 
communistic  quality  prevails,   as  one  sees   when,   on 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Lazv  and  Cnstom       77 

summer  holidays,  the  thronging  thousands  pour  into 
them. 

Municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities,  water- 
works, lighting-plants,  tramways,  etc.,  is  so  obviously 
a  further  advance  toward  socialism  as  to  have  been 
bitterly  opposed  for  that  reason.  As  to  water-supply, 
however,  the  advantage  is  so  manifest  that  already 
more  than  half  our  American  cities  have  made  the 
innovation.  Many  also  provide  their  own  light. 
Municipal  ownership  of  lighting-plants  has  gone 
much  further  in  the  United  Kingdom  than  with  us, 
two  hundred  and  fifty-six  gas-plants,  representing  a 
capital  of  $180,000,000,  being  in  the  hands  of  cities 
in  1903.  Electric  lighting  has  passed  yet  more  largely 
under  municipal  management.  Almost  all  cities  have 
their  own  water-works.  About  one-half  the  lines  of 
tramway  are  owned  and  operated  by  the  cities,  re- 
sulting in  the  reduction  of  fares  to  about  half  what 
they  were  under  private  ownership.  Many  cities  own 
considerable  farming-land  which  they  cultivate  in 
connection  with  the  disposal  of  their  sewage;  others 
have  petitioned  for  the  privilege  of  entering  into 
various  branches  of  manufacture  and  of  trade. 
Birkenhead  owns  its  ferries,  the  little  town  deriving 
from  them,  low  as  are  the  charges,  a  net  annual  in- 
come of  ^30,000  ;  Nottingham  deals  in  live-stock  ; 
Birmingham  owns  and  runs  a  large  farm,  and  so  well 
as  to  get  a  revenue  of  $125,000  a  year ;  Liver- 
pool makes  artificial  stone  ;  Glasgow  has  its  own 
telephone  system.  And  German  cities  are  not  a  whit 
behind. 


78  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

SUMMARY 

From  these  out  of  countless  available  facts  of  like 
bearing,  we  see  that  human  society  in  its  property  and 
labor  relations  has  been  from  the  first  changing  its 
basis.  In  all  the  earlier  ages  the  change  went  on 
with  exceeding  slowness,  so  that  students  of  the  sub- 
ject in  those  days,  had  there  been  any  then,  might 
well  have  thought  they  were  living  under  a  fixed, 
divinely  appointed  social  order,  to  meddle  with  which 
would  be  something  in  the  nature  of  sacrilege.  But 
in  later  time,  in  our  own  day  when  the  transition  is 
rapid  enough  to  be  seen  and  felt,  there  is  certainly 
no  reputable  excuse  for  such  an  attitude. 

The  changes  at  which  we  have  hastily  glanced  harve 
not  gone  on  at  equal  pace  in  all  lands  and  among  all 
races,  and  have  not  ordinarily  been  marked  off  by 
anything  in  the  nature  of  revolution ;  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, an  altogether  simple  thing  to  specify  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  this  social  movement.  The  epochs 
fall  into  numerous  divisions  and  subdivisions ;  suffice 
it  here  to  note  these  eight  grand  stages :  — 

1.  The  primitive  stage  of  Communism,  which  in  a 
manner  has  here  and  there  persisted  with  isolated 
tribes  down  to  our  own  time. 

2.  Stage  of  private  property  in  movables  —  food, 
dress,  utensils,  and  so  forth,  creating  only  slight  dis- 
tinctions among  the  holders. 

3.  Stage  of  private  property  in  movables  and  im- 
movables. Private  ownership  of  land.  Inequality 
widens. 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       79 

4.  Stage  of  property  in  man.  Extension  of  tillage 
gives  land-owner  importance ;  he  requires  slaves  ta 
v^^ork  his  estates.     Urban  luxury  also  calls  for  them. 

5.  Stage  of  Feudalism.  Slaves  superseded  by  vas- 
sals having  a  semblance  of  liberty,  fighters  as  well 
as  toilers  for  the  high  and  mighty.  Feudal  lords 
loosely  confederated  in  the  kingdom. 

6.  Stage  of  incipient  private  industry  and  com- 
merce. Rise  of  the  "  third  estate "  (bourgeoisie, 
commons,  middle  class),  which  by  manufacture  and 
trade    acquires    wealth. 

7.  Stage  of  Industrial  Revolution.  Age  of  steam; 
application  of  machinery  to  production.  Laborers 
become  wage-earners,  forming  the  proletariat.  Em- 
ployers  wax   rich   and   powerful. 

8.  Stage  of  Political  and  Social  Revolution.  Bar- 
ons overthrown  and  despoiled  by  the  bourgeoisie. 
Subsidence  of  feudalism.  Industrial  revolution  com- 
plete. Struggle  of  the  proletariat  with  the  new 
masters   of   the   world. 

This  is  an  outline  which  on  the  whole  synchronizes 
with  the  general  march  of  civilization,  though  the 
stages  reach  over  and  interlock  here  and  there.  A 
trace  of  primitive  communism,  or  at  least  of  the 
second  stage  of  the  above  tabulation,  holds  on  even 
yet  in  the  mir  of  Russia,  by  which  the  land  in  certain 
parts  belongs  not  to  individuals  but  to  the  commune, 
and  is  parceled  out  to  the  cultivators  rent  free  and 
according  to  the  labor  capability  of  the  families  com- 
posing the  commune.  The  stage  of  slavery,  which 
generally   preceded    feudalism,    persisted   in   America 


so  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

past  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  still 
persists  in  the  Portuguese  colonies.  In  Japan  feudal- 
ism survived  until  recent  times.  The  course  of  social 
development,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  a 
movement  en  masse  of  civilized  mankind.  It  may 
1)6  symbolized  as  an  imaginary  river  of  undiscovered 
source,  for  the  first  long  stretches  flowing  sluggishly 
over  an  immeasurable  plain,  hindered  by  insignificant 
obstacles,  loitering  in  large  lagoons,  gaining  some 
headway  now  and  then  in  the  central  channel  where 
at  any  time  the  waters  may  be  thousands,  tens  of 
thousands  of  years  in  advance  of  the  waters  at  the 
margin  on  either  side,  but  altogether  meandering  so 
aimlessly  as  to  be  not  infrequently  about  as  far  from 
the  goal  as  at  the  outset;  which,  however,  arriving  at 
length  at  a  seaward  slope,  seems  to  get  a  conscious- 
ness of  its  destiny  and  show  a  purposeful  haste.  So 
it  has  happened  that  while  the  first  five  stages  of  our 
reckoning  probably  covered  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
years,  the  last  three  are  included  within  a  few  cent- 
uries. It  is  especially  with  these  latter  that  we  are 
here  concerned. 

In  these  three  stages  the  evolutionary  process  is 
clearly  before  us,  and  we  are  not  likely  to  be  mis- 
taken as  to  its  significance.  As  we  have  seen,  radical 
changes  have  taken  place,  innovations  altogether 
strange  to  previous  history,  and  which  from  the 
socialist  point  of  view  are  the  world's  chief  gains 
thus  far  made ;  and  this  we  note :  they  have  been 
brought  about,  not  by  any  consciously  socialist  prop- 
aganda,   but    by    unescapable    moral    and   economic 


Unconscious  Socialism  in  Law  and  Custom       81 

necessities.  The  socialist  tendency  is  seen,  and  con- 
spicuously seen,  to  lie  in  the  very  nature  of  the  social 
situation,  in  the  commonest  instincts  of  justice;  to 
belong  inseparably  to  the  march  of  civilization. 
Every  now  and  then  we  have  some  broad  principle 
of  socialism,  or  rather  some  application  of  such  a 
principle,  enacted  into  law  by  legislators  who  would 
scorn  to  be  classed  as  socialists,  —  showing  how 
vastly  stronger  are  these  principles  than  the  name 
they  go  by.  But  opponents  of  this  sort  of  legisla- 
tion have  seen  clearly  enough  what  at  bottom  it  is, 
and  have  not  hesitated  to  distinctly  characterize  it  as 
socialistic.  The  characterization  is  none  the  less 
correct  for  being  made  with  the  obvious  intent  of 
frightening  the  electors.  In  the  canvass  for  the  par- 
liamentary election  of  1910  the  voters  of  the  United 
Kingdom  had  it  forced  home  to  them  by  the  opposi- 
tion orators  that  the  Liberals  were  marching  straight 
toward  socialism,  that  the  budget  proposed  by  them 
and  disallowed  by  the  Lords  must,  sanctioned  by 
the  vote  of  the  people,  open  the  way  to  the  final 
expropriation  of  land  and  capital.  Warning  voices 
were  heard  from  across  the  sea  and  from  across  the 
channel.  The  framer  of  the  budget  and  the  ministry 
whose  existence  was  staked  on  it  were  roundly  de- 
nounced as  socialists,  little  as  they  so  regard  them- 
selves. The  most  distinguished  French  economist  of 
the  old  school  considered  them  and  the  French  min- 
istry whose  budget,  based  on  the  same  principles,  was 
pending,  more  temerarious  than  are  recognized  and 
confessed  socialists.    "  God  save  us,"  he  wrote,  "  from 


82  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ministers  who  have  passed  for  conservative !  A  min- 
ister originally  radical  or  socialist  would  show  less 
precipitancy  in  projects  of  this  sort."  But  the  Eng- 
lish ministry  stood  the  test  of  an  election,  and  the 
French  was  put  to  no  test,  but  in  the  regular  election 
has  been  amply  sustained ;  the  policy  of  each,  social- 
istic as  it  is,  prevails.  The  world  moves,  and  there 
is  no  room  to  doubt  which  way  it  moves. 

All  the  considerable  class  of  legislation  out  of 
which  the  examples  enumerated  in  this  chapter  have 
been  drawn,  has  been  the  w'ork,  be  it  observed,  not 
of  socialist  ministers  and  law-makers,  but  of  men 
belonging  to  the  old  political  parties,  who  were  con- 
strained by  the  imperative  necessities  of  the  situation 
to  make  these  concessions  to  a  doctrine  they  are 
supposed  not  to  approve,  and  to  a  party,  altogether 
inconsiderable,  which  they  stoutly  oppose.  What  un- 
exampled excellence  must  reside  in  a  system  of  social 
teachings  which  draws  to  one  or  another  of  its  fea- 
tures the  substantial  though  reluctant  homage  of  even 
its  avowed  enemies !  And  what  must  be  its  potency, 
seeing  that  it  marches  decade  by  decade,  year  by  year, 
and  without  the  support  of  a  numerous  host,  from 
victory  to  victory,  until  the  defenders  of  the  old  and 
reputedly  established  stand  aghast,  looking  for  noth- 
ing short  of  a  general  overturning!  The  gods  must 
certainly  be  fighting  on  the  side  of  a  cause  which  has 
so  far  won  its  way  by  no  material  weapons  or  any 
apparent  force  of  numbers,  but  solely  by  its  truth 
to  reason,  by  the  imperial  power  of  justice  and  of 
right. 


CHAPTER   III 

RECENT  DEVELOPMENT  OF  SOCIALISM 

The  Utopists  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  were  so  enchanted  with  their  schemes  of 
a  new  society  as  to  think  that  the  estabHshment  of 
here  and  there  a  community  on  their  plan  would 
afford  such  a  demonstration  of  its  superiority  that 
the  whole  world  would  speedily  come  over  to  the 
new  order.  Their  expectations  failed.  Then  came 
the  great  expounders  of  scientific  socialism,  with  a 
clearer  vision  laying  the  foundations  of  their  system 
on  the  rock  of  reality,  and  making  it  clear  to 
themselves  and  their  followers  that  by  the  very 
necessities  of  the  case  a  great  social  Revolution  was 
at  hand,  a  violent  overturning  in  which  the  world 
would  set  itself  to  rights.  This  expectation,  too, 
failed ;  but  the  failure  was  not,  as  before,  a  sad 
disappointment.  The  great  leaders  who  looked  for 
the  inauguration  of  the  new  order  by  violence,  and 
even  set  a  time  within  which  the  decisive  struggle 
would  come,  nevertheless  hoped  and  worked  for  a 
bloodless  triumph.  Marx  from  his  English  covert 
—  outlawed  on  the  continent  —  and  Lassalle  in  the 
forefront  of  the  hottest  contest,  wrought  for  the 
creation  of  a  poHtical  force  that  could  be  marshaled 
in    the    furtherance   of    the    new    ideas,    that,    taking 


84  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

things  as  they  are,  should  strive  by  constitutional 
means  to  bring  them  forward  to  the  socialist  ideal. 
From  this  point  dates  a  new  development  of 
socialism,  and  thenceforth  Reform,  as  a  watchword, 
more  and  more  takes  the  place  of  Revolution.  From 
this  point,  too,  that  is,  from  about  fifty  years  ago, 
the  new  ideas,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  seem  to  have  taken  to  working  for 
themselves.  They  began  to  get  into  the  heads  of 
people  who  were  never  suspected  of  being  socialists; 
they  inspired  thousands  to  deeds  of  generous  self- 
sacrifice  for  many  a  good  cause ;  they  brought 
forward  the  ideals  of  peace  and  brotherliness  in  a 
world  which  groaned  under  a  system  of  things 
calculated  to  provoke  discord,  envy,  corruption, 
hatred,  and  many  another  abomination ;  they  shaped 
legislation  in  a  way  to  protect  the  weak  and  lay  the 
heavier  burdens  upon  the  strong;  they  set  towns- 
people working  together,  each  according  to  his 
ability,  in  an  ever-increasing  number  of  common 
interests,  —  until  now  the  world,  without  ever  the 
socialists  as  a  party  striking  a  decisive  blow,  is,  as  the 
conservatives  avow,  half  given  over  to  socialism. 

DEVELOPMENT    OF    THE    PARTY    IN    GERMANY 

However  much  or  little  the  socialist  movement  as 
such  may  have  had  to  do  with  the  inception  of  this 
tendency  to  better  things,  it  certainly  took  on  form 
and  strength  at  an  opportune  moment  to  be  a 
mighty    re-enforcement    of    the    good    cause.      The 


I 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  85 

socialist  party  rose  to  importance  in  Europe  when 
it  did  because  the  time  was  ripe  for  it,  because 
events  were  moving  its  way,  and  because  it  was 
needed  to  urge  them  on.  Lassalle  founded  his 
General  Working-men's  Association  in  1863,  the 
avowed  object  of  which  was  to  press  upon  the 
government  the  granting  of  universal  suffrage. 
That  gained,  he  thought  the  way  would  be  open  for 
the  workers  to  obtain  all  other  just  demands  by  the 
mere  force  of  numbers.  As  they  constitute  a 
majority  in  every  land,  they  would  have  only  to 
pull  together,  and  dominion,  in  a  constitutional  State, 
would  be  in  their  hands.  The  immediate  outlook 
was  bad,  for  a  class  largely  disfranchised  is  under 
grave  disadvantage  in  preferring  requests ;  but  let 
the  people  as  a  body  claim  their  rights,  and  they 
must  be  heard.  He  thought  that  if  his  Association 
acquired  a  membership  of  100,000  it  could  really  do 
something.  He  set  out  to  secure  that  number ;  but 
in  all  such  undertakings  it  is  the  first  step  that  costs. 
The  working-men  did  not  respond  as  he  expected 
them  to.  Even  after  fifteen  months  of  arduous 
effort,  canvassing  the  country,  speaking  everywhere 
to  crowds  of  people,  he  was  able  to  muster  for  his 
Association  less '  than  one-twentieth  the  membership 
he  had  deemed  necessary  to  make  a  favorable 
impression  upon  the  government.  But  his  tragic 
death,  which  seems  to  have  been  that  of  a  man 
shattered  by  disappointment  in  a  work  on  which  he 
had  set  his  heart  and  soul,  electrified  the  working- 


86  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

men  as  even  his  eloquence  had  not.  They  rallied 
then  to  the  standard  that  he  had  set  up.  Manhood 
suffrage  was  decreed  in  Germany,  and  at  the  election 
in  1871  the  Social  Democracy  polled  124,655  votes. 
From  that  date  its  advance  was  rapid.  At  the 
election  of  1877  the  count  was  493,288;  in  1887  it 
attained  to  763,128.  In  the  next  six  years  the  party 
had  a  phenomenal  growth,  polling  in  1893  1,786,738 
votes;  in  1898,  2,107.076;  in  1907,  3,258,968.  As 
early  as  1893  the  Social  Democracy  became  by  far 
the  largest  party  in  Germany,  and  so  it  steadily 
remains.  That  it  does  not  elect  a  majority  in  the 
Reichstag  and  control  legislation  is  owing  wholly  to 
the  refusal  of  the  government  to  make  a  redistribution 
of  seats  on  the  basis  of  present  population.  There 
has  been  no  distribution  since  1871.  Meantime  the 
population  has  well  nigh  doubled,  the  gain  being  all 
in  the  towns,  while  the  rural  districts  have  lost; 
so  that  now  in  proportion  to  number  of  inhabitants 
the  cities  have  much  less  of  a  voice  in  legislation 
than  have  the  country  precincts.  Berlin,  for  instance, 
has  grown  from  600,000  to  about  2,000,000.  The 
city  had  six  representatives  in  the  Reichstag  in  1869, 
the  basis  being  (approximately)  one  to  100,000. 
On  the  same  basis  it  should  now  have  twenty ;  it 
still  has  six.  As  the  socialist  majorities  are  in  the 
cities,  and  those  of  the  Center  (Clericals)  and 
Conservative  parties  chiefly  in  the  country  districts, 
it  happens  that  three  times  as  many  —  even  more 
than   three   times    as   many  —  votes   are    required   to 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  87 

elect  a  socialist  as  to  elect  a  clerical.  Thus  in  1907 
the  Center  returned  one  member  for  every  20,800 
votes  cast  by  that  party ;  the  ratio  of  socialist  votes 
to  members  elected  was  75,800  to  1.  This  is  a 
crying  injustice,  equal  to  the  worst  of  our  gerry- 
mandering, and  greatly  more  sweeping. 

But  while  this  exasperating  discrimination  against 
the  urban  electors  reduces  shamefully  the  power  of 
the  party  on  a  division  in  the  Reichstag,  the  moral 
influence  of  members  who  have  behind  them  con- 
stituencies three  times  as  large  as  those  of  other 
members  cannot  but  be  felt.  This  in  fact  comes  out 
in  the  coUectivist  legislation  of  the  last  thirty  years. 
To  be  noted  particularly  is  the  system  of  State 
insurance  for  working-men,  greatly  extended  beyond 
what  was  contemplated  by  the  original  act  of 
Bismarck's  time.  Imposing  indeed  is  the  amount  — 
over  $100,000,000  —  annually  distributed  in  the  form 
of  benefits  and  indemnities ;  as  is  also  the  number 
of  persons  insured  against  sickness,  accident,  and  old 
age,  running  up,  it  would  seem,  in  one  and  another 
category  to  two-thirds  or  more  of  the  whole 
population  of  the  empire.  Such  manifestations  of 
paternal  interest  on  the  part  of  the  government  in 
the  poorest  of  the  people  have  a  favorable  efifect  upon 
their  spirits  and  their  habits,  and  we  are  prepared 
to  believe  the  reports  of  observers  that  the  German 
laborer,  low  as  are  his  wages,  is  more  orderly,  more 
thrifty,  less  apprehensive  about  his  future,  than  most 
of  his  class.     Not  that  he  is  by  any  means  satisfied 


88  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

with  the  situation,  but  that  he  is  encouraged  to  see 
things  tending,  even  though  slowly,  his  way. 

It  is  to  be  clearly  observ^ed  that  mere  ameliorations 
of  the  working-man's  lot  are  no  part  of  the  programme 
of  the  party.  They  are  a  sort  of  reflex  action  of 
socialist  sentiment  on  other  elements  of  the  body- 
politic,  an  automatic  outworking  in  the  public  mind 
in  some  shadowy  way  of  certain  principles  zealously 
proclaimed  through  the  country  these  fifty  years.  So 
far  indeed  have  the  various  mitigations  offered  by 
the  government  been  from  meeting  the  demands  of 
the  socialists  as  a  party  that  they  have  been  cool 
observers  rather  than  urgent  advocates  of  the 
measures,  assenting,  to  be  sure,  but  with  no  great 
ardor.  They  see  in  these  measures  steps  in  the 
right  direction  —  steps  which  they  expect  will  continue 
to  be  taken  until  the  party  comes  into  power  and 
without  further  ado  completes  the  transformation ; 
but  so  little  way  toward  the  goal  does  one  of  these 
ameliorating  acts  make,  they  do  not  wax  enthusiastic 
over  it,  do  not  appear  as  its  sponsors ;  they  take 
it,  not  as  a  grant  of  human  rights,  but  as  an  admission 
of  long-standing  wrongs,  with  a  trifling  indemnity 
thrown  in.  Since  1891  the  Social  Democracy  has 
stood  on  the  Declaration  then  made  at  Erfurt,  a 
statement  which  should  be  carefully  examined  by  all 
who  would  know  what  exactly  the  doctrines  of 
socialism  in  our  day  are.  It  first  sets  forth  very 
succinctly  the  actual  situation  and  the  proposed 
changes,   as    follows  :  — 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  89 

"  Private  ownership  of  the  instruments  of  produc- 
tion, which  in  former  times  assured  to  the  producer 
the  property  in  his  own  product,  has  now  become 
the  means  of  expropriating  peasant  proprietors, 
hand-workers,  and  small  dealers,  and  of  placing  the 
non-workers,  the  capitalists,  and  the  great  land- 
owners in  possession  of  the  product  of  the  workmen. 
Only  the  conversion  of  the  capitalistic  private 
property  in  the  means  of  production  —  land,  mines, 
raw-material,  tools,  machines,  facilities  of  communi- 
cation —  into  social  property,  and  the  transformation 
of  the  production  of  wares  into  socialistic  production, 
carried  on  for  and  through  society,  can  bring  it 
about  that  the  great  production  and  constantly 
increasing  productivity  of  social  labor  may  become 
for  the  hitherto  exploited  classes,  instead  of  a  source 
of  misery  and  oppression,  a  source  of  the  highest 
welfare  and  of  all-sided,  harmonious  development. 

"  The  struggle  of  the  working  class  against 
capitalistic  exploitation  is  of  necessity  a  political 
struggle.  To  shape  this  struggle  into  a  conscious 
and  united  one,  and  to  point  out  to  the  workers 
its  inevitable  goal,  —  this  is  the  task  of  the  Social 
Democratic  party." 

The  Declaration  recognizes  that  ameliorations, 
unconsciously  socialistic  and  of  more  or  less  value, 
are  being  introduced ;  that  these  indicate  a  process 
of  socialization  which  it  belongs  to  the  party  to 
hasten,  to  extend,  to  deepen,  and  above  all  to  dignify 
with  a  clearly-conscious  ultimate  purpose.     To  these 


90  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ends,  and  pending  the  existence  of  the  present  social 
order,  the  party  will  keep  in  view  and  work  for 
these   objects :  — 

1.  Universal,  equal,  and  direct  suffrage  for  all  men 
and  women  of  the  Empire  over  twenty  years  of  age. 

2.  Direct  legislation  through  the  people,  by  means 
of  the  right  of  proposal  and  rejection.  Self-govern- 
ment of  the  people  in  Empire,  State,  Province,  and 
Commune. 

3.  Universal  training  in  military  duty,  with 
abolition  of  standing  armies.  Settlement  of  all 
international   difficulties   by   arbitration. 

4.  Abolition  of  all  laws  which  suppress  or  restrict 
the  free  expression  of  opinion  and  the  right  of  union 
and   meeting. 

5.  Abolition  of  all  laws  which,  in  public  or  private 
matters,  place  women  at  a  disadvantage  as  compared 
with  men. 

6.  Religion  a  private  matter.  No  public  funds  to 
be  applied  to  ecclesiastical  or  sectarian  purposes. 

7.  Secularization  of  schools.  Compulsory  attend- 
ance at  the  public  people's  schools.  Free  opportunity 
for  higher  education  to  the  more  talented. 

8.  Administration  of  justice  and  legal  advice  to 
be  free.     Abolition  of  capital  punishment. 

9.  Free  medical  attendance;  free  burial. 

10.  Progressive  income,  property,  and  inheritance 
taxes.  Abolition  of  all  indirect  taxes,  customs,  and 
other  financial  measures  which  sacrifice  the  collective 
interest  to  the  interests  of  a  privileged  minority. 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  91 

Further  demand  is  made  for  effective  national  and 
international  regulations  in  protection  of  workmen  on 
specific  lines,  such  as  a  normal  working  day  of  not 
to  exceed  eight  hours ;  prohibition  of  the  employment 
of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age  in  money- 
making  labor;  thirty-six  hours  of  weekly  respite; 
and  thorough  supervision  of  all  industrial  establish- 
ments by  the   State. 

It  is  fairly  obvious  that  simple  continuance  of  the 
tendencies  now  in  operation  in  any  country  would 
finally  eventuate  in  meeting  every  one  of  these 
demands ;  and  justification  of  the  movement  so  far 
as  it  has  gone  would  seem  to  imply  justification  of 
it  to  the  end  of  its  course.  But  raen  of  convictions 
are  not  accustomed  to  sit  idly  by  and  let  things  drift 
merely  because  they  seem  to  be  drifting  in  the  right 
direction.  Such  men  feel  that  it  belongs  to  them 
to  direct  the  current  of  events,  to  clear  its  course 
and  speed  its  way.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  the  German 
Social  Democracy  to  have  reached  a  definite  pro- 
gramme which  rules  out  anarchy  on  one  side,  and 
any  puttering  scheme  of  philanthropy  on  the  other, 
and  plants  itself  on  the  science  of  mighty  thinkers 
who  in  these  matters  laid  the  irrefragable  foundations; 
which  will  make  the  best  of  the  present,  but  never 
leave  out  of  sight  a  future  now  becoming  definitely 
disclosed  as  the  morning  star  of  hope. 

The  party  is  a  model  of  organization  for  its 
purposes  of  education  and  propagandism.  The 
marvelous    gains     made     since     1871     indicate     that 


92  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  the  socialists 
will  be  the  governing  majority,  and  they  feel  that 
for  this  enormous  responsibility  they  need  the  amplest 
possible  mental  training.  To  this  end,  and  to  keep 
up  the  ever-swelling  tide  of  its  growth,  the  party 
carries  on,  says  Robert  Hunter,  "  a  propaganda  of 
incredible  dimensions.  Its  journals  reach  no  less  than 
1,049,707  subscribers.  There  are  sixty-five  daily 
papers,  and  about  twelve  weekly  and  monthly 
periodicals.  A  comic  paper,  '  Der  wahre  Jacob,' 
alone  has  a  circulation  of  230,000 ;  and  '  Die 
Gleichheit,'  a  journal  for  working  women,  has  over 
60,000  regular  subscribers.  Its  organ  in  Berlin, 
'  Vorwarts,'  has  a  circulation  of  120,000.  The  party 
employs  twenty-eight  organizing  secretaries,  who  go 
about  the  country  assisting  the  branches  in  the  work 
of  organization  and  propaganda.  In  September,  1906, 
the  national  committee  on  education  opened  a  school 
in  Berlin  for  the  purpose  of  training  working-men 
as  organizers,  secretaries,  and  editors.  About  thirty 
students  are  sent  there  entirely  at  the  expense  of  the 
party,"  *  No  one  can  go  into  one  of  the  socialist 
meetings  in  whatever  humble  quarter  and  listen  to 
the  speakers  without  being  struck,  not  only  with  their 
ready  and  forceful  utterance,  but  with  the  range  of 
information  shown.  The  method  by  which  politics 
becomes  a  veritable  education  and  a  training  is 
something  that  might  advantageously  be  brought  over 
to  America. 


Socialists  at  Work,  p.  5. 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  93 

A  matter  of  perpetual  astonishment  to  the  American 
(even  more  perhaps  to  the  Enghsh)  visitor  of  local 
socialist  assemblies  on  the  continent  at  whose  sittings 
there  usually  go  on  open  and  long-continued  discus- 
sions, is  the  familiarity  of  speakers,  seen  by  their 
garb  to  be  working-men,  with  the  philosophy  and 
science  of  socialism  as  set  forth  in  so  abstruse,  so 
formidable  a  work  as  Das  Kapital  of  Karl  Marx. 
These  brown-visaged,  rough-handed  men,  and  these 
plainly-clad,  serious-looking  women,  acquire,  many  of 
them,  from  frequent  public  use  of  their  gifts  of 
speech  an  enviable  facility  of  utterance  at  which  we 
do  not  so  much  wonder ;  but  that  they  —  that  any 
of  them  —  should  also  show  a  good  comprehension  of 
great  treatises  which  not  one  Englishman  or  American 
in  a  thousand  can  bring  himself  to  read,  is  to  us 
astounding.  It  marks  in  the  people  of  Northern 
Europe  a  distinctive  quality  which  accounts  in  a 
manner  for  the  position  that  socialism  has  taken 
there,  so  different  from  what  we  see  in  this  country 
or  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

SOCIALISM    IN    GREAT    BRITAIN 

In  the  United  Kingdom  socialism  from  the  first  has 
had  a  very  different  course  of  development,  Marx 
spent  the  great  part  of  his  active  life  in  London^ 
building  his  works  on  data  drawn  from  Eng- 
lish economic  history,  scarcely  touching  an  English 
workman  or  stirring  so  much  as  a  ripple  in 
English  thought.  Until  within  very  recent  years  the 
English    proletariat   has   remained   almost   impervious 


94  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  socialism.  Among  the  middle  and  the  literary- 
classes,  however,  toward  the  end  of  the  last  century- 
it  got  a  foothold,  and  a  work  has  since  gone  on,  the 
more  interesting  to  note  because  it  has  proceeded  in 
its  own  way  with  little  regard  to  methods  elsewhere 
pursued.  There  was,  apparently,  among  the  active 
spirits  becoming  enlisted  in  the  movement  a  surplus 
of  leaders  whose  several  strong  inclinations  were  not 
to  be  subordinated  to  a  single  guidance,  who  could 
not  work  in  one  body,  after  one  programme,  to  one 
end.  This  estopped  at  the  outset  the  formation  of 
a  new  political  party,  —  a  scheme,  moreover,  which 
was  pretty  generally  considered  of  doubtful  feasi- 
bility on  British  ground.  As  in  America,  there 
seemed  to  be  no  field  for  a  third  party,  no  chance 
for  it  to  come  to  anything,  parties,  as  by  fore- 
ordination,  dividing  by  a  single  cleft;  whereas  in 
other  countries  the  electors  fall  into  several  groups, 
the  representatives  of  any  one  of  which  by  combina- 
tion with  other  groups  in  parliament  may  become 
influential.  All  that  seemed  to  be  left  the  English 
socialists  was  the  common,  plodding  process  of 
educating  their  public,  diffusing  the  new  ideas  by  the 
voice  and  the  press ;  and  this  they  earnestly  took 
hold  of,  obedient  to  the  proverb,  festina  Icntc.  The 
leading  organization  with  this  motive,  and  one  still 
active  and  prominent,  took  the  name  of  The  Fabian 
Society,  indicating  thereby  that  it  planned  no  rash 
or  showy  things,  content  to  do  its  best  and  bide  its 
time,  even  though  it  should  seem  to  "  only  stand  and 
wait."       Other     organizations     were     formed,     each 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  95 

following  its  own  bent,  all  working  independently 
and  with  little  concerted  action,  yet  bringing  about, 
or  helping  to  bring  about,  if  with  some  waste  and 
much  friction,  highly  important  results. 

The  English  contention  has  been  that  the  sure 
way  to  make  a  movement  succeed  and  render  its 
success  desirable,  is  to  get  behind  it  the  best  people, 
the  trained  and  instructed  classes.  These,  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  a  great  reform,  will  give  to  its 
propaganda  a  security,  a  sanction  not  to  be  lightly 
esteemed ;  they  will  be  the  shining  centers  from 
which  light  will  permeate  all  obscurer  quarters.  The 
British  working-man  is  a  stolid  body  not  to  be 
galvanized  into  an  apostle,  incapable  of  the  far-vision 
or  of  any  passion  for  other  good  than  that  which  is 
at  hand.  It  is  idle  to  expect  him  to  start  the  car  of 
progress ;  he  may  be  picked  up  and  brought  into  it 
later  on. 

Accordingly  the  literary  lights  of  the  movement 
directed  their  attention  to  the  reading  public,  and 
produced  a  body  of  socialist  literature  of  a  high  order, 
which  has  had  an  incalculable  influence.  Written 
without  specific  political  animus,  these  books,  essays, 
tracts,  scattered  by  the  hundred  thousand  up  and 
down  the  land,  have  set  multitudes  on  trains  of 
reflection  fatal  to  confidence  in  the  present  order  of 
things,  have  shaped  the  course  of  much  legislation, 
have  created  conscious  socialist  sentiment  in  countless 
hamlets  and  homes  where  it  was  never  felt  before. 
Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb,  George  Bernard  Shaw, 
Graham  Wallas,  H.  G.  Wells,  William  Morris,  Robert 


96  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Blatchford,  and  many  another  name  of  power,  have 
become  household  words,  more,  perhaps,  for  hght  shed 
on  social  problems  than  for  any  brilliant  work  in 
other  fields. 

The  English  socialists  have  generally  taken  a  very 
sober  attitude  on  the  questions  involved  in  this  move- 
ment. They  have  not  fostered  the  fancy  that  the 
day  of  the  world's  redemption  from  the  bondage  of 
capitalism  and  the  odious  wage-system  is  at  hand; 
they  have  taught  that  social  processes  are  evolutionary, 
not  revolutionary,  and  therefore  necessarily  slow  in 
operation,  creating  nothing  de  novo,  but  laboriously 
and  little  by  little  educing  each  succeeding  stage  out 
of  that  which  went  before.  Man,  impulsive  and 
eager,  longs  for  the  consummation,  thinks  of 
precipitating  it,  —  dreams  that  the  world  in  the  first 
place  was  made  in  a  week,  and  imagines  that  it  can 
be  made  over  in  another  week.  Prophets  of  all 
names  who  have  had  foregleams  of  a  better  world 
to  be,  have  looked  for  its  speedy  realization.  But 
the  student  observes  that  they  have  invariably  been 
disappointed.  God  alone  is  absolutely  patient,  and 
that  because  he  has  no  end  of  time.  In  the  natural 
order  the  greatest  good  is  not  to  be  immediately 
consummated ;  it  lies  at  the  end  of  a  long  series  of 
approaches.  Consequently,  if  we  would  co-operate 
with  Nature  in  this  matter  of  social  advancement, 
and  so  work  to  some  purpose,  we  must  start  from 
the  existing  order  of  society  as  a  basis,  and  seek  by 
such  gradual  transformations  as  are  now  possible  to 
further  the  forward  movement  so  easily  traceable  and 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  97 

showing  such  obvious  acceleration  through  the  last 
four  centuries. 

English  repugnance  to  the  idea  of  revolution  comes 
out  in  this,  and  a  reflection  of  the  submissiveness, 
amounting  at  times  to  hebetude,  with  which  grevious 
wrongs  have  been  borne  by  the  toilers  through  the 
centuries ;  and  withal  there  is  the  positing  of  a 
philosophical  vindication  not  to  be  readily  disposed 
of.  Furthermore,  a  strong  point  can  be  made 
empirically  for  this  attitude.  England  has  had  no 
revolution  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years;  but  it 
cannot  be  said  that  in  respect  of  social  advancement, 
of  light  and  liberty,  England  is  at  all  behind  lands 
where  revolutions  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence. 
A  solid  conclusion  to  which  the  English  have  helped 
the  world  in  this :  a  revolution  is  serviceable  and 
defensible  only  where  despotism  so  restrains  the  play 
of  spiritual  forces  that  an  orderly  development  is 
impossible  save  through  a  violent  rupture  of  bands. 

To  this  view  socialists  have  been  coming  from  the 
time  they  definitely  shook  themselves  free  from 
anarchy.  But,  even  in  Great  Britain,  they  have 
generally  been  forced  to  see  that,  if  in  the  struggle  for 
so  great  a  social  change  as  they  are  demanding  they 
are  to  eschew  violence  and  use  only  the  legitimate 
weapons  of  peace,  then  these  weapons  ought  every 
one  to  he  employed.  While  a  few  of  the  more 
credulous,  marking  the  meliorations  in  the  condition 
of  the  working  classes  effected  by  acts  of  parliament 
—  particularly  under  Liberal  administrations  —  with- 
out a  socialist  in  either  House,  were  disposed  to  think 


98  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

that  by  the  force  of  ideas  alone,  by  individual  eflfort 
and  without  any  sort  of  political  organization,  the 
whole  reform  was  going  to  be  worked  out,  the 
militant  socialists  grew  impatient  with  the  slow  march 
of  events,  and  poured  furious  criminations  upon  the 
Liberal  party,  whose  leaders  they  accused  of 
insincerity,  of  double-dealing,  of  a  studied  plan  to 
sow  discord  among  the  socialists,  promising  much 
and  doing  little.  It  is  the  difference  between 
regarding  a  matter  judicially  and  regarding  it 
politically.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  politician, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  since  the  general  election  of 
January,  1910,  that  the  Liberal  ministry  which  was 
before  the  country  for  approval  had  gone  as  far  in 
the  direction  of  socialism  as  "  good  politics "  could 
possibly  have  permitted.  This  admission,  however, 
only  strengthens  the  argument  for  a  political  party 
openly  pledged  to  socialist  principles. 

Ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  Mr.  J.  Keir  Hardie.  an 
energetic  and  clear-headed  Scotchman,  began  working 
with  might  and  main  for  the  union  of  all  laborers, 
whether  socialists  or  not,  in  a  political  organization 
for  their  own  protection.  The  elements  he  sought 
to  join  were  far  from  being  harmonious,  and  his  task 
was  beset  with  doubt  and  difficulties  and  stolid 
reluctance  to  a  degree  that  would  have  disheartened 
a  man  of  less  clear  convictions  or  a  less  determined 
spirit.  In  view  of  what  he  and  those  associated 
with  him  in  this  undertaking  had  to  contend  with, 
the  success  which  they  at  length  achieved  appears 
remarkable.     The   Independent   Labor   Party,   as   the 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  99 

outcome  is  called,  now  counts  over  a  million  voters, 
fully  half  of  whom  have  given  assent  to  the  socialist 
programme.  At  the  recent  general  election  they 
returned  forty  members  of  Parliament.  This  group 
certainly  cut  a  very  important  figure  just  now,  as 
at  any  moment  the  life  of  the  Liberal  ministry  may 
hang  upon  their  votes.  Circumstances  have  thrust 
upon  them  an  influence  and  a  power  such  as  the 
representatives  of  labor  never  before  commanded  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  the  situation  of  the  House  of 
Commons  having  come  to  resemble  that  of  the  French 
Chambre  des  Deputes,  where,  to  form  a  government 
with  a  secure  working  majority,  the  radicals  are 
obliged  to  combine  with  the  socialists. 

Never  was  the  creation  of  a  party  better  timed  to 
demonstrate  the  wisdom  of  the  movement.  In  the 
previous  House  the  labor  votes  were  not  needed  by 
the  Liberal  ministry,  and  the  few  labor  representatives 
wielded  only  the  influence  their  individual  talent 
might  command.  Now  they  are  in  a  position  to  obtain 
any  reasonable  thing  they  may  ask  for.  Anticipating 
this  predicament  as  a  possible  outcome  of  the  election, 
the  Liberal  leaders  in  the  heat  of  the  canvass 
broached  the  grave  question  of  the  unemployed,  which 
before  had  been  left  to  drift,  though  by  far  the  most 
pressing  that  confronts  the  nation.  All  at  once  they 
were  ready  with  a  solution  of  the  appalling  problem 
"whereat  every  reflecting  Englishman  has  stood  aghast 
for  years,  —  a  very  simple  solution,  too,  but  through 
and  through  socialistic :  they  would  bring  in  a  bill 
providing     State     insurance    against     unemployment. 


100  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

They  may  not  be  strong  enough  to  keep  that  pledge 
or  to  carry  out  that  suggestion,  but  it  is  something 
to  have  made  it.  On  the  whole  the  political  situation 
never  took  on  anything  like  its  present  interest  to 
the  socialist,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  expect  a 
great  development  of  the  strength  of  the  party. 

SOCIALISM    IN    FRANCE 

France,  where  theoretical  and  revolutionary  social- 
ism may  be  said  to  have  had  its  birth,  has  also 
been  the  field  of  its  chief  trials  and  tragedies.  An 
enthusiastic  and  adventuresome  people  who  had 
caught  after  many  a  fiery  gleam  of  promise  only  to 
see  it  set  up  a  conflagration  among  them,  could  hardly 
have  avoided  a  similar  experience  with  the  proft'ered 
boon  of  social  betterment.  The  wild  uprisings  of  the 
proletariat  which  more  than  once  have  gone  down 
in  frightful  massacre,  have  been  lessons,  though 
costly,  from  which  all  have  profited.  The  whole 
animus  of  the  nation  seems  to  have  changed.  From 
being  the  most  belligerent,  France  has  become  the 
most  pacific  of  powers ;  its  government,  once  despotic, 
is,  as  we  say,  free,  that  is,  republican,  with  universal 
manhood  suffrage  and  equality  of  citizens  before  the 
law ;  the  classes,  from  being  inimical,  have  become 
at  least  tolerant  of  one  another ;  there  is  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press.  It  is  seen  that  for  any  and 
all  reforms  there  is  a  peaceful  path  of  accomplish- 
ment, and  only  anarchists  now  think  of  resorting  to 
violence. 

Through  the  period  here  under  hasty  review  some 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  101 

of  the  brightest  intellects  of  the  country  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  development  and  diffusion  of  the 
socialist  ideal  in  one  and  another  of  its  phases, 
producing  a  literature  of  the  subject  which  gives 
France  in  this  respect  a  distinct  lead.  In  no  other 
country,  if  in  all  other  countries  together,  is  there 
to  be  found  such  an  array  of  brilliant  minds  enlisted 
in  the  cause,  —  scholars,  professors,  authors,  orators, 
statesmen,  —  among  them  names  of  such  eminence 
that  French  socialists  may  proudly  claim  to  have  with 
them  a  good  share  of  the  very  foremost  of  their 
countrymen.  This  comes  out  rather  strikingly  in  the 
political  situation.  The  socialists  count  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  deputies,  only  about  fifty,  and  these 
have  been  of  late  years  nominally  a  part  of  the 
government's  working  majority.  On  the  fall  of  the 
Clemenceau  ministry  in  1909,  one  of  its  members, 
M.  Briand,  elected  by  the  socialists  and  conspicuous 
among  them  in  other  years,  was  called  on  to  form  a 
new  ministry.  This  he  did,  and  when  the  names 
were  announced  it  appeared  that  of  the  ten  members, 
five,  including  the  President  of  the  Council,  M. 
Briand,  were  socialists. 

Quondam  socialists,  in  the  final  reckoning  of  the 
party,  it  needs  to  add.  For  by  rigorous  rule,  reached 
after  mature  reflection,  a  man  who  accepts  office  in 
the  conduct  of  the  government  forfeits  his  standing 
in  the  party.  The  matter  first  came  up  in  1899,  when 
Waldeck-Rousseau  in  forming  his  ministry,  feeling 
the  need  of  socialist  support  in  the  Chamber,  offered 
to  M.   Millerand,   a  leading  socialist  deputy,   a  port- 


102  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

folio.  Immediately  the  question  arose :  Can  a  socialist 
who  has  in  view  an  order  of  things  radically  different 
from  the  present  order,  consistently  take  part  in  the 
direction  of  a  government  which  must  for  the  present 
proceed  on  the  old  lines?  No  question  ever  arose 
as  to  the  propriety  of  his  sitting  in  the  legislature, 
for  there  he  sits  in  opposition  until  such  time  as, 
his  party  coming  to  be  a  majority,  the  government 
shall  be  conducted  on  the  new  principles.  But  how 
about  the  new  wine  going  into  the  old  bottles? 
There  was  much  to  be  said,  and  much  was  said,  on 
both  sides.  For  the  next  five  years  it  was  the 
standing  topic  of  discussion  at  all  gatherings  of  the 
party,  of  which  it  threatened  a  complete  rupture. 
The  leaders  in  this  hot  and  long-continued  debate 
were  Jaures  for,  and  Guesde  against,  socialists  taking 
part  in  the  government  under  the  existing  regime 
as  opportunity  might  offer.  Guesde  is  the  older  man, 
one  who  was  pursued  as  a  disturber  under  the  empire, 
and  for  a  time  even  under  the  republic ;  utterly 
fearless,  made  for  deeds  of  daring;  a  mind  rigorously 
logical  and  stored  with  inexhaustible  knowledge 
bearing  on  socialism.  The  whole  social  philosophy  of 
Karl  Marx  is  in  his  head  and  at  his  tongue's  end, 
freed  from  forbidding  technicalities.  His  oratory  is 
not  of  the  showy  kind,  derives  nothing  from  charm 
of  voice  or  manner,  but  everything  from  profound 
conviction,  clear  vision  and  clear  statement.  He  is 
not  swayed  by  personal  sympathy,  and  makes  no 
appeal  to  feeling.  Sentiment  is  nothing,  principle  is 
everything  to  him.     Jaures  is  a  very  different  type 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  103 

of  man.  Educated  for  university  life,  he  held  a  chair 
of  philosophy  before  coming  into  the  political  arena. 
Of  extraordinary  oratorical  gifts,  he  became  leader 
of  his  party  in  parliament,  and  has  spoken  for 
socialism  in  every  quarter  of  France.  Vigorous  in 
body  as  in  mind,  he  is  capable  of  incredible  exertion, 
seems  never  wearied  with  his  multifarious  labors  as 
editor  of  a  leading  journal,  prominent  deputy, 
perpetual  propagandist,  famous  talker  always  in 
request.  His  speech  is  a  torrent  whose  very  volume 
seems  to  carry  all  before  it.  It  is  no  small  testimony 
to  Guesde's  power  that  he  can  stand  against  such 
an  orator  and  not  be  unanimously  voted  second  best. 
There  was  a  strong  feeling  that  to  decline  to  hold 
office  in  the  government  was  to  miss  a  great  oppor- 
tunity to  do  something  directly  in  the  way  of  shaping 
affairs  more  in  accordance  with  the  socialist  ideal. 
To  be  sure  nothing  sweeping  could  be  done,  as  the 
socialists  would  be  but  a  minority  in  the  cabinet,  and 
there  would  be  call  unescapable  for  much  compromis- 
ing; but  then  it  was  urged  that  where  government 
is  of  necessity  conducted  jointly  by  different  groups, 
compromise  is  imperative,  and  the  smaller  group  can 
be  only  a  minority  in  the  ministry.  Jaures  contended 
with  much  force  that  in  a  liberal  State  like  France 
where  there  is  universal  manhood  suffrage,  we  have 
not  government  exclusively  by  a  class ;  that  the 
socialists,  being  a  group  of  the  controlling  coalition 
in  the  Chamber,  should  not,  more  than  any  other 
group  so  situated,  renounce  the  opportunity  to  take 
their  part  in  the  government.     He  admitted  that  in 


104  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

a  State  like  Germany  where  the  government  does  not 
hold  itself  responsible  to  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  there  might  be  reason  in  a  socialist  declining 
office  (in  the  very  unlikely  case  of  its  being  offered 
him),  but  in  a  free  State  the  situation  was  different. 

Guesde  strenuously  opposed  this  policy,  and,  the 
party  in  France  being  unable  to  come  to  an  agree- 
ment, carried  the  matter  up  to  the  International 
Congress  at  Amsterdam  in  1904  for  final  determina- 
tion. It  was,  as  may  be  supposed,  the  occasion  of 
one  of  the  most  famous  debates  of  modern  times, 
Bebel,  leading  the  German  representation,  joining  in 
to  overwhelm  the  French  "  revisionists,"  as  the  ele- 
ment that  favored  taking  part  in  the  government  had 
come  to  be  called.  It  is  capital  proof  of  the  discipline 
established  in  the  party  that  Jaures  and  his  followers, 
though  not  convinced,  bowed  to  the  verdict  of  the 
majority,  accepting  the  adverse  decision  by  virtue  of 
which  the  present  Prime  Minister  and  several  of  those 
associated  with  him  in  the  Council  are  formally 
excluded  from  the  Unified  Socialist  party.  It  takes 
courage  and  determined  resolution  to  cut  off  such 
men  on  grounds  of  policy  over  which  there  is 
evidently  room  for  wide  difference  of  opinion. 

The  party  is  now  thoroughly  organized  with  all 
the  requisite  machinery  of  propagandism,  the  different 
and  heretofore  conflicting  elements  better  held  to- 
gether. It  is  the  only  party  that  has  made  notable 
gains  in  the  recent  election,  having  won  a  number  of 
seats  from  the  Radicals,  still  the  most  numerous 
party  in  the  Chamber.     The  latter  console  themselves 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  105 

for  their  losses  in  that  they  were  made  to  their 
friends  who  will  vote  with  them  on  a  division  involving 
the  life  of  the  ministry. 

In  France,  as  elsewhere,  socialists  are  guarding 
themselves  from  a  too  exclusive  absorption  in 
politics,  and  devote  much  attention  to  industrial 
questions,  to  working-men's  societies  and  labor  unions. 
Strenuous  efforts  are  being  made  to  unite,  as  far  as 
may  be,  the  two  lines  of  interest  without  confounding 
the  forms  of  organization.  At  the  international 
Congress  at  Stuttgart  in  1907  earnest  consideration 
was  given  to  this  important  matter,  so  vital  to  all 
concerned,  —  to  the  party  whose  complete  success 
depends  on  gathering  under  its  banner  the  entire 
working-class,  and  to  the  unions  themselves,  whose 
ends  can  be  largely  reached  only  by  strong  political 
backing.  The  slowness  of  the  workers  to  see  this 
and  act  on  it  is  all  that  now  stands  in  the  way 
of  great  achievements.  The  call  of  Marx  has  still 
to  be  echoed  and  re-echoed :  "  Working-men,  get 
together !  " 

PROGRESS    IN    BELGIUM 

The  socialist  movement  has  made  great  headway 
in  Belgium,  whose  peasantry  has  for  centuries  been 
the  worst  exploited  and  oppressed  in  Europe.  The 
capitalistic  system  has  there  had  complete  develop- 
ment and  shown  just  what  it  leads  to,  —  wonderful 
"  prosperity " ;  that  is  to  say,  a  small  upper  class, 
with  the  late  king  at  its  head,  rolling  in  wealth  which 
is   kept    rapidly    increasing;    a   numerous   proletariat 


106  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

overfilling  the  little  country,  living  on  wages  so  low 
as  to  be  ever  on  the  brink  of  starvation,  too  poor  to 
get  out  of  a  land  which  Nature  has  so  blest  and  man 
has  so  curst,  and  shamefully  kept  in  ignorance  and 
helplessness  by  long  denial  and  still  persisting 
restriction  of  political  rights.  Socialism  came  to  that 
poor  people,  neglected  by  the  government  and  trod- 
den upon  by  capital,  and  showed  them  ways  of  help- 
ing themselves,  of  making  their  lives  less  miserable. 
It  taught  them  association,  co-operation ;  made  them 
see  that  the  combination  of  thousands  of  hands,  each 
bringing  a  few  pence,  was  a  secret  of  power,  might 
be  the  beginning  of  a  little  independence,  a  little 
liberation  from  their  bondage.  So  it  has  come  about 
that  in  Belgian  cities  there  will  generally  be  found  a 
Maison  du  Peuple,  term  which,  like  the  word 
"  church,"  means  at  once  a  house  and  the  society 
that  uses  it.  That  at  Brussels  may  be  taken  as  a  type 
of  these  great  co-operative  societies  of  laborers. 
There  the  central  Maison  du  Peuple  is  nothing  less 
than  a  people's  palace  adapted  to  the  various  needs 
of  the  society,  with  a  spacious  auditorium  in 
which  famed  socialist  speakers  are  heard,  a  good 
restaurant,  library,  gymnasium,  and  all  conveniences 
of  a  great  club-house.  This  is  the  headquarters  of 
the  association ;  the  co-operative  works  are  scattered 
about  the  city.  These  are  in  several  lines  of  business, 
primarily  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  reducing 
the  price  of  commodities  to  consumers.  The  Maison 
du  Peuple  has  built  two  great  bakeries  which  turn 
out  25,000,000  pounds   of   bread   annually.      Though 


Recent  Development  of  Socialism  107 

the  price  of  loaves  has  been  materially  reduced,  the 
business  yields  to  the  co-operators  a  substantial  profit. 
They  have  also  large  coal-yards,  four  butcher-shops, 
and  twenty-five  shops  for  the  sale  of  bread  and 
groceries.  The  result  is  that  for  the  co-operators'  own 
consumption  the  whole  element  of  profit  on  these 
necessities  is  eliminated.  Beside  the  main  House 
of  the  People  with  its  generous  accommodations,  they 
have  five  other  smaller  Houses  at  convenient  points 
about  the  city,  affording  places  of  meeting,  instruction, 
refreshment,  and  various  entertainment  for  the 
members.  No  socialist  having  a  day  in  Brussels 
should  fail  to  visit  the  Maison  du  Peuple.  Something 
under  the  name  will  be  met  with  in  neighboring 
lands,  but  hardly  anywhere  anything  of  the  kind  so 
pleasant  to  see. 

If  it  must  be  admitted  that,  so  far,  the  develop)- 
ment  of  a  socialist  party  in  our  own  country  is  less 
of  a  success,  it  may  justly  be  claimed  that  socialist 
tendencies  in  the  old  parties  are  even  more  notable 
here  than  elsewhere.  Not  a  few  of  the  leaders,  Dem- 
ocratic and  Republican  alike,  show  by  occasional 
utterances  that  they  have  caught  something  of  the 
Collectivist  spirit.  They  contend  vigorously  for  the 
conservation  of  the  forests,  the  mines,  the  natural 
sources  of  power,  as  the  common  property  of  the 
whole  people  ;  insist  that  the  State  regulate  the 
industries,  supervise  transportation,  check  the  greed 
of  corporations,  protect  all  manner  of  toilers  from 
oppression.  Political  opponents  are  not  slow  in  classi- 
fying these  men  with  an  unwelcome  precision.     Mr. 


108  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Bryan,  three  times  Democratic  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, has  since  been  called,  on  account  of  his  ex- 
pressed opinions,  the  logical  candidate  of  the  socialists 
at  the  next  election.  Certain  of  the  Progressive  or 
"  Insurgent  "  Republicans  have  shown  even  yet  more 
decided  leanings  in  the  same  direction.  A  corre- 
spondent of  TAe  Nation,  coming  to  the  defense  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt  from  editorial  criticism,  feels  con- 
strained to  exonerate  himself  from  the  suspicion  of 
a  too  partial  judgment  by  protesting,  "I  am  not  a 
socialist."  The  ex-President  some  time  since  sought  to 
forestall  the  charge  of  being  one,  by  a  much-resented 
aspersion  of  socialists  in  general ;  nevertheless  no 
other  public  man  in  America  has  said  and  done  so 
much  for  the  furtherance  of  socialist  tendencies. 

Though  the  party  as  yet  is  imperfectly  organized, 
it  is  not  without  its  able  leaders.  Its  numerous 
journals  are  vigorously  conducted,  one  of  them.  The 
Appeal  to  Reason,  ranking  among  the  widest  circu- 
lated papers  in  the  world. 

These  are  the  beginnings  of  great  things,  taking 
shape  under  adverse  conditions,  in  the  face  of 
dominating  capitalism  which  throws  every  possible 
obstacle  in  the  way.  They  are  intimations  of  what 
could  be  accomplished  by  the  united  effort  of 
government  and  people  for  the  equal  weal  of  every 
citizen. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    NEXT    STEPS    TO    BE    TAKEN 

On  all  sides  there  is  a  more  or  less  pronounced 
feeling  that  grave  social  and  economic  crises  are  at 
hand.  It  manifests  itself  in  the  feverish  apprehen- 
sion of  political  parties,  even  the  oldest  and  most  con- 
servative, over  the  growing  power  of  the  trusts,  the 
rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  small 
minority  which  tends  ever  to  strengthen  itself  by 
closer  and  closer  combination,  —  a  plutocracy  that 
already  by  the  very  force  of  enormous  aggregations 
of  capital  threatens  to  dominate  everything.  It  is  a 
minority  of  a  few  thousand  millionaires  and  multi- 
millionaires, easily  to  be  held  in  check  in  a  democracy, 
one  might  think,  by  the  rest  of  the  people  many 
thousand-fold  more  numerous.  But  the  barons  of 
finance  "  are  for  their  own  generation  wiser  than  the 
children  of  light."  Without  in  the  least  endangering 
their  personal  control,  they  have  absorbed  into  their 
combinations  in  large  measure  the  small  properties  of 
a  great  middle  class,  and  so  acquired  the  vigorous 
support  of  a  considerable  body  of  the  politically  influ- 
ential. These  people  who  have  poured  their  savings 
into  the  gigantic  maw  of  the  trusts,  or  into  enter- 
prises which  the  trusts  have  swallowed  up,  since  they 
derive  their  httle  incomes  from  the  dividends  of  these 
great  concerns,  are  bound,  like  a  mercenary  soldiery. 


110  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  stand  guard  around  the  trusts,  to  resist  and  ward 
off  the  assaults  of  an  aroused  and  noisy,  but  unorgan- 
ized, poorly  armed  and  equipped,  and  so  not  very  dan- 
gerous multitude.  Still,  these  guardians  are  anxious 
and  troubled,  for  no  one  can  tell  at  what  moment  a 
wave  of  indignation  may  sweep  over  the  country,  or 
what  havoc  it  might  make  with  political  calculations 
should  it  come  on  the  eve  of  a  presidential  election. 
So  the  party  in  power  is  hedging,  seeking  to  show 
deference  to  a  popular  demand,  while  still  acting  in 
a  manner  not  to  alienate  the  money-power  which  has 
so  generously  contributed  to  its  past  successes  ;  and 
the  opposition,  less  cautious,  hurls  fiery  denunciations 
at  the  plutocracy.  All  around  there  is  a  sense  of 
something  momentous  impending,  a  conviction  that 
present  tendencies  along  certain  lines  are  leading  to 
conditions  that  will  be  unbearable  and  bring  about  a 
fearful  catastrophe. 

The  steady  advance  in  the  price  of  food,  whatever 
may  be  the  occasion  of  it,  is  ominous,  immediately 
disturbing  to  the  masses  whose  income,  as  a  rule, 
barely  sufifices  for  necessary  outgoes,  and  begetting 
anxiety  in  reflecting  minds  as  to  the  future.  If,  as 
some  are  saying,  the  rise  of  prices  results  from  the 
manipulations  and  machinations  of  those  who  are  in 
a  position  to  control  the  food  supply,  there  is  here 
the  worst  impeachment  yet  laid  against  the  trusts ; 
for  they  would  appear  to  have  the  consumers  by  the 
throat,  and  to  be  fully  equipped  morally  and  materially 
to  practice  an  unlimited  extortion,  compelling  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  to  pay  an  excessive  price  for 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  111 

subsistence  under  pain  of  forfeiting,  not  one  pound  of 
flesh  as  Shylock  weakly  proposed,  but  every  pound 
on  their  bones.  Hardly  less  startling  is  the  prospect 
if,  as  others  think,  food  is  getting  higher  because  of 
the  failure  of  production  to  keep  pace  with  normal 
consumption  and  abnormal  waste  ;  for  the  remedy  in 
that  case  is  greatly  more  complex  and  difficult  of 
application,  involving  a  change  of  the  people's  habits, 
and  the  institution  on  a  large  scale  of  intensive  culture 
of  the  soil,  a  regression  of  the  toilers  from  the  cities 
to  the  fields,  —  in  short,  something  in  the  nature  of  a 
social  revolution. 

Then  there  is  the  persistent  problem  of  pauperism, 
not  all  the  progress  of  the  ages  tending  in  the  least 
to  reduce  it.  On  the  contrary,  as  wealth  increases 
and,  by  a  fatality  inseparable  from  the  present  order, 
falls  more  and  more  exclusively  into  the  hands  of  a 
class,  another  class  is  left  in  destitution  more  dis 
tressing  than  is  commonly  seen  in  ruder  civilizations. 
The  new  country,  where  population  is  sparse  and 
nobody  is  rich,  has  no  extreme  poverty  to  complain  of; 
that  evil  comes  with  the  cultivation  of  the  fields,  the 
making  of  beautiful  homes,  the  building  of  pleasant 
towns  and  splendid  cities.  The  larger  and  richer 
your  city  the  higher  the  percentage  of  the  desperately 
poor,  the  more  appalling  the  misery  that  stalks  through 
the  darker  quarters.  For  a  glimpse  of  the  worst 
poverty  and  the  most  of  it,  one  must  go  to  New 
York  or  to  London,  where  values  astounding,  values 
to  ransom  an  empire,  are  daily  exchanged.  Lands 
that  boast  the  very  highest  civilization  have  no  end  of 


112  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

paupers.  Every  thirty-seventh  person  in  the  United 
Kingdom  is  a  pubHc  charge.  MilUons  are  poured  out 
year  by  year  to  meet  the  grim  situation,  and  still  the 
evil  increases  in  magnitude.  Society  as  at  present 
constituted  is  obliged  to  content  itself  with  partial 
and  wholly  inadequate  measures  of  relief  ;  is  unable 
to  so  much  as  suggest  a  possible  remedy.  Recurring 
periods  of  enforced  idleness,  and  the  meager  pay  of 
the  common  laborer  when  he  has  employment,  keep 
him  ever  on  the  verge  of  want,  and  when,  as  is  well- 
nigh  inevitable,  he  slips  over  into  the  abyss  below,  a 
pitying  world  looks  on  able  to  do  nothing  more  than 
to  drop  a  dole  into  the  outstretched  hand. 

Idle  and  fatuous  is  any  attempt  to  account  for  the 
hideous  fact  of  poverty,  extreme  and  abounding  in 
the  midst  of  abounding  wealth,  on  the  ground  of  pre- 
vailing sloth  and  improvidence  among  the  poor.  In 
some  cases  these  are,  no  doubt,  assignable  causes. 
Here  and  there  a  person,  rich  or  poor,  will  be  indolent, 
prodigal ;  but  that  is  never  to  be  charged  against  a 
class,  least  of  all  against  the  laboring  class.  Their 
poverty,  and  their  general  inability  to  extricate  them- 
selves from  it,  are  seldom  their  fault.  As  a  rule 
poverty  is  a  condition  to  which  they  are  foredoomed, 
and  from  which  escape  is  made  exceedingly  difficult 
by  the  social  organization  under  which  we  live.  It  is, 
broadly  speaking,  a  direct  product  of  existing  arrange- 
ments, and  so,  of  course,  under  these  arrangements 
nothing  can  be  done  to  eradicate  it.  We  can  putter 
with  it,  we  can  alleviate  it  in  spots,  but  as  long  as  the 
machine  which  grinds  it  out  keeps  grinding,  —  when 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  113 

we  have  toiled  and  sympathized  and  donated  and  done 
all,  when  we  have  solicited  thousands,  even  millions, 
from  our  rich  friends,  and  built  lodging-houses  and 
soup-kitchens  galore,  organized  our  charitable  societies, 
established  our  social  settlements  and  whatever  other 
benevolent  institutions,  —  we  shall  not  have  abolished, 
or  even  perceptibly  lessened,  the  world's  poverty. 
The  producing  agency  will  keep  the  stock  of  paupers 
well  up  to  the  possible  limit  no  matter  how  much  of 
this  sort  of  effort  is  expended. 

THE    PROBLEM    OF    LAND 

We  are  told  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures  in  connec- 
tion with  the  placing  of  human  creatures  on  the 
earth,  that  they  were  to  "  have  dominion  over  the 
fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over 
the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth  "  —  over  its  soil,  that 
is,  and  its  buried  treasures.  And  this  gift  bestowed 
by  the  Maker  was  obviously  not  to  be  appropriated 
by  a  part  of  the  people  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest ; 
it  was  to  be  a  universal  inheritance,  the  simple  terms 
to  every  man  being :  '  Occupy  the  earth,  subdue  and 
replenish  it.'  The  implication  is  that  the  soil  and  all 
that  underlies  the  soil  are  distinctly  social  property 
not  to  be  sequestered  for  private  ends, —  as  much  so 
as  are  the  sea  and  the  fish  therein,  the  air  and  its 
winged  inhabitants.  And  this  is  perfectly  the  reason- 
able and  natural  view  to  take.  By  the  very  circum- 
stance of  being  born  into  the  world,  one  of  right 
should  come  to  an  equal  enjoyment  with  all  other 
persons  of  at  least  every  natural  good,  —  of  air  and 


114  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

light,  water  and  land,  minerals  and  sources  of  power. 
This  is  Nature's  provision  for  the  universal  well- 
being  of  the  race,  and  this  natural  bounty,  falling 
uninterfered  with  upon  every  person,  would  be  to 
each  sufficient  insurance  against  any  extremity  of 
want. 

But  this  large  provision  for  every  child  arriving  on 
these  sublunary  shores  has  been  frustrated  for  the 
vast  majority.  Most  of  us  come  having  literally  not 
where  to  lay  our  heads,  more  disinherited  than  the 
foxes  or  the  birds  of  the  air ;  and  with  the  sorry 
prospect  of  never  gaining  the  right,  except  at  the 
sufferance  of  some  landlord,  to  rest  one  night  on  the 
breast  of  the  would-be  nourishing  mother  of  us  all. 
What  we  are  born  to  is  poverty,  exclusion  from  a 
main  part  of  Nature's  own  provision  for  her  children. 
The  capitalist  has  barred  us  from  occupation  of  the 
land  from  which  must  come  almost  our  entire  sub- 
sistence. We  are  still  permitted  to  breathe  the  air, 
though  for  most  of  us  that  is  sadly  polluted  with  the 
smoke  and  smudge  of  great  mills  and  factories  in 
which  we  work  and  near  which  we  must  live.  Use 
of  the  water  supply  of  cities  and  towns  we  are  per- 
mitted to  enjoy,  but  the  tendency  is  to  cut  us  off 
from  any  particularly  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  by 
private  and  exclusive  possession  of  the  entire  shores. 
To  the  mind  of  the  present  writer  comes  a  thought 
of  a  lovely  lake  perched  on  the  hills  of  central  New 
York,  —  one  of  the  unfailing  joys  of  his  boyhood. 
Village  and  country  boys  rowed  and  fished  and  bathed 
to  their  hearts'  content.     Now,   though  the  lake  is 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  115 

the  natural  property  of  the  village  by  its  side,  the 
villagers  have  no  access  to  it ;  they  can  only  look  at 
their  lost  possession  from  the  somewhat  distant  high- 
way as  they  walk  or  drive  around  the  clear,  blue  water 
and  its  encircling  palatial  cottages,  which  stand  as  so 
many  fortifications  intended  to  enforce  the  interdic- 
tion of  approach  impudently  displayed  at  every  gate- 
way. Dives  has  so  fenced  Lazarus  out  from  the  lake 
that  if  the  former  should  sometime  call  for  a  drop  of 
that  water  to  cool  his  tongue  the  poor  man  couldn't 
get  it  for  him. 

The  ultimate  remedies  which  socialism  offers  for 
all  this  are  necessarily  radical,  and  subversive  of  much 
in  our  present  social  order.  They  are  clearly  set  forth 
in  the  Declaration  made  at  Erfurt  in  1891,  already 
referred  to,*  in  the  celebrated  Manifesto  of  Marx  and 
Engels,  and  may  be  found  elaborated  in  most  books 
of  socialism.  Only  two  of  the  proposals  need  be 
here  dwelt  upon,  of  which  the  first  is  :  socialization  of 
the  means  of  production  —  land,  mines,  raw-material, 
tools,  machines,  factories,  facilities  of  communication 
and  transport.  As  far  as  the  land  is  concerned  — 
using  the  word  in  its  popular  sense  —  this  proposal, 
radical  as  it  is,  means  only  return  to  the  natural  and 
only  defensible  state  of  things,  to  the  state  in  which 
society  originally  existed  ;  f  the  unsophisticated  sav- 
age being  unable  to  see  any  other  way  of  regarding 
the  great  provisions  of  Nature  for  man  than  as  boun- 
ties to  be  freely  shared  by  all.     Private  ownership 


Chapter  III.         t  Chapter  II. 


116  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  land,  as  Marx  and  other  socialists  all  along  con- 
tended, —  contention  to  which  Henry  George  later 
brought  a  most  persuasive  eloquence,  *  —  is  a  mis- 
taken custom,  monstrously  productive  of  injustice  and 
misery  in  the  modern  world,  not  merely  conferring  on 
the  holder  exclusive  title  to  what  is  as  clearly  a  gift 
of  Nature  to  the  whole  people  as  is  the  air  they 
breathe  or  the  water  they  drink,  but  also  robbing 
them  of  the  unearned  increment,  that  is  to  say,  the 
advance  in  value,  which  is  manifestly  a  social  product, 
arising  from  the  presence  of  people  crowding  about 
the  property.  Thus  in  every  growing  city  the  lucky 
holder  of  land  at  points  toward  which  the  tide  of 
population  flows,  is,  without  lifting  a  finger,  enriched 
at  the  inconvenience  and  at  the  expense  of  that  in- 
coming tide.  The  same  injustice  is  only  less  egre- 
giously  apparent  in  every  rapidly  developing  rural  dis- 
trict, particularly  in  a  new  country.  The  first  settlers, 
whose  land  cost  them  but  a  trifle,  and  which  but  for 
the  arrival  of  other  settlers  would  never  have  been 
worth  much  more,  find  themselves  after  a  few  years 
the  possessors  of  valuable  estates,  thanks  to  the  new- 
comers, who,  besides  paying  (many  of  them)  roundly 
for  their  own  farms,  have  by  their  presence  multiplied 
fifty,  perhaps  a  hundred  times  the  worth  of  the  land 
first  taken  up.  However,  this  gain  to  the  first  settlers 
is  in  a  measure  reciprocated  by  them,  and  is  not 
much  grudged.  Very  different  is  the  case  of  the  land- 
grabber  who,  favorably  situated  to  know  of  localities 


*  Progress  and  Poverty. 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  117 

where  great  natural  advantages  are,  by  extension  of 
railroads  and  other  furtherances,  to  be  put  in  the  way 
of  speedy  development,  proceeds  to  buy  up  a  square 
mile  here  and  a  square  mile  there,  where  as  yet  few 
signs  of  human  habitation  are  to  be  seen,  and  then 
goes  home  and  waits  for  honest,  industrious  settlers 
to  pour  in  upon  intervening  sections  and  create,  for 
him  new  millions.  He  himself  does  nothing,  is  a 
positive  obstruction  to  the  development  in  which  he 
is  interested,  whereby  he  is  to  be  enriched  ;  neverthe- 
less in  a  few  years  he  is  able  to  parcel  out  and  sell 
his  territory  at  a  price  per  acre  not  much  below  what 
the  cultivated  lands  around  about  will  bring ;  or,  if 
his  astuteness  has  been  backed  by  sufficiently  power- 
ful influences,  a  town,  even  a  city,  has  grown  up  on 
some  one  of  his  happily  selected  estates,  and  he  draws 
from  it  a  princely  income. 

The  government,  seeing  the  injustice  of  this  and 
how  much  it  is  against  the  public  interest,  seeks  in 
the  disposition  of  the  public  domain  to  prevent  its 
falling  into  the  hands  of  speculators  ;  but  under  the 
system  of  private  ownership  such  a  result  is  to  be 
only  partially  obviated.  Directly  or  indirectly  the 
scheming  operator  will  get  hold  of  as  much  land  as 
he  pleases.  There  is  no  remedy  in  any  such  half- 
way measures. 

The  socialist  proposes  that  the  State,  instead  of 
selling  land,  resume  possession  of  what  it  has  sold, 
and  administer  the  whole  in  the  interest  of  all  the 
people,  renting  it  equitably  to  those  who  desire  to 
occupy  it.     Before  asking  how  this  is  to  be  brought 


118  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

about  we  shall  do  well  to  note  some  advantages  that 
would  necessarily  accrue  both  to  the  land  and  to  its 
inhabitants. 

The  land  would  be  better  cared  for.  The  moun- 
tains and  hills  would  not  be  denuded  of  trees,  with 
the  frequent  result  of  turning  them  into  a  desert, 
making  of  the  rivers  dangerous  torrents  in  the  spring 
months,  and  leaving  them  arid  beds  or  petty  rivulets 
for  the  rest  of  the  year.  The  government  now  is 
doing  something  to  save  the  forests,  but,  unhappily, 
its  authority  extends  only  to  the  public  lands,  rapidly 
decreasing  in  extent.  The  need  of  its  reaching  out 
further  is  so  great  that  it  will  now  and  then  make  the 
vain  effort,  as  it  did  a  few  years  ago  when  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  then  largest  and  finest  remaining  wood 
in  the  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan  was  planned. 
The  sad  monument  of  its  failure  is  now  to  be  seen  in 
some  thirty  square  miles  of  worthless,  boggy,  stump- 
covered  land. 

The  States  are  endeavoring  by  means  of  their  agri- 
cultural schools  to  induce  better  methods  of  farming, 
to  bring  the  productiveness  of  our  boasted  soil  up  to 
the  standard  of  western  Europe.  But  progress  is 
slow  ;  for  here,  again,  there  is  no  authority.  If  the 
government  controlled  the  farms  it  could  direct  the 
farming,  and  we  might  expect,  under  expert  culture, 
soon  to  see  production  of  every  sort  nearly,  or  even 
quite,  doubled.  What  that  would  mean  for  America 
can  hardly  be  comprehended.  It  would  quiet  the 
cry  of  "  high  prices,"  at  least  until  the  population  has 
doubled. 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  119 

CO-OPERATIVE    INDUSTRY 

For  the  people,  disposition  of  the  land  according 
to  the  socialist  doctrine  would  do  infinitely  more.  It 
would  make  an  end  of  the  expression,  ^^  unearned  in- 
crement "  ;  what  goes  by  that  name,  already  known 
to  be  well  earned,  and  earned  by  those  who  do  not 
get  it,  would  go  where  it  unquestionably  belongs,  — 
to  those  who  create  it.  Then,  too,  we  should  see  a 
complete  change  in  the  make-up  of  the  rural  popula- 
tion. Instead  of  farmers  and  hired  help  —  the  lat- 
ter with  no  slightest  interest  in  the  product  of  their 
toil  —  we  should  have  farmers  only,  co-operative  in- 
dustry taking  the  place  of  the  present  procedure. 
Intensive  culture  would  come  in,  calling  for  a  greatly 
increased  number  of  hands  ;  and  as  rents  would  be 
scientifically  graduated  to  do  equal  justice  to  all,  and 
the  land  leased  in  parcels  to  suit  tenants,  colonies, 
variously  numerous,  from  the  cities,  would  take  up 
their  residence  on  the  fields  for  the  long  busy  seasons, 
plow  and  sow,  cultivate,  reap,  and  gather  into  barns. 
The  collectivity  would  study  to  make  this  possible  for 
the  poorest,  and  small  farms  would  be  rescued  from 
every  disadvantage  as  compared  with  large  ones.  At 
present,  and  since  the  introduction  of  agricultural 
machinery,  as  is  well  known,  farming  on  a  small  scale 
is  badly  handicapped  by  the  cost  of  the  desirable 
instruments,  which  either  bars  procuring  them  or  lays 
upon  the  very  limited  product  a  disproportionate  tax. 
Socialism  would  have  the  implements  owned  in  suit- 
able quantities  by  the  community,  the  township ;  and 


120  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  use  of  them  systematically  given  in  turn  to  all 
the  farms,  thus  putting  large  and  small  tracts  on  an 
equal  footing  as  regards  the  cost  of  production. 

Socialism  would  in  like  manner  do  away  with  class 
distinctions  in  all  other  forms  of  production,  by  sub- 
stituting for  present  arrangements  co-operative  indus- 
tries. To  make  this  possible  the  State  must  possess 
itself  of  existing  plants,  or  build  others,  renting  them 
to  the  workers  at  a  rate  of  interest  on  the  cost  not  to 
exceed  the  lowest  rate,  or,  better,  half  the  lowest  rate 
which  the  State  itself  has  to  pay  ;  thus  enabling  the 
new  establishments  to  start  so  advantageously  that 
private  capital,  unable  to  compete  with  them,  would 
be  driven  out  of  the  industries.  Masters  of  them- 
selves, and  recipients  of  the  full  meed  of  their  toil, 
that  is  to  say,  recipients  of  what  they  now  obtain 
plus  the  profits  absorbed  by  the  capitalists,  plus  what- 
ever the  present  cost  of  management  is  in  excess  of 
what  the  cost  will  be  under  co-operation,  plus  the 
enormous  aggregate  now  lost  by  employers  and  em- 
ployed from  industrial  crises,  strikes,  and  lockouts,  — 
they  would  be  delivered  from  the  fear  of  want  and 
from  the  morally  hideous  necessity  of  keeping  up  a 
war  of  classes  to  extort  from  unfeeling  masters  a 
penny  more  than  will  suffice  to  keep  body  and  soul 
together. 

The  need  for  this  uplift  of  the  working  people  is 
greatly  more  apparent  in  the  cities  than  in  the  country 
districts.  The  centers  of  population  are  the  centers 
of  the  great  industries,  the  seats  of  mills  of  every 
description,  all  having  the  double  function  of  multi- 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  121 

plying  the  wealth  of  their  owners  and  massing  a 
proletariat  which  remains  permanently  without  wealth. 
The  contrast  between  these  classes  in  the  towns  goes 
on  ever  increasing,  not  through  the  poor  becoming 
poorer  —  in  that  direction  no  great  change  for  them 
is  possible  —  but  through  the  rich  becoming  richer. 
This  is  a  spectacle  calculated  to  provoke  envy  in  the 
less  favored,  even  if  the  greatly  disproportionate  pros- 
perity of  the  opulent  were  simply  and  solely  of  their 
own  earning ;  it  is  doubly  galling  to  intelligent  work- 
ers who  have  read  political  economy  enough  to  know 
that  all  wealth  is  the  product  of  labor,  and  that  the 
rich  become  rich  through  an  undue  appropriation  of 
the  earnings  of  the  poor,  made  possible  by  our  vicious 
social  system.  So  long  as  this  lasts  there  can  be  no 
social  peace,  no  Christian  brotherhood. 

HIDEOUS    INEQUALITY   OF    OPPORTUNITY    UNDER   THE 
EXISTING    ORDER 

The  other  ultimate  demand  of  socialism  to  be  con- 
sidered here  is,  the  abolition  of  inheritance.  Simple 
justice  would  require  that  people  start  in  life  in 
respect  of  material  appurtenances  as  nearly  equal  as 
may  be.  There  will  of  course  never  be  any  equality 
of  mental  equipment,  of  producing  power,  of  earning 
capacity ;  it  is  probably  not  desirable  that  there  should 
be.  At  any  rate  the  matter  is  not  within  the  scope 
of  human  regulation.  The  natural  gifts  of  a  person 
are  not  a  possession,  they  are  the  person  himself,  not 
his  but  he,  his  essential  being;  and  it  is  his  natural 
right  that  those  gifts  have  their  opportunity,  pass  in 


122  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  world  for  what  they  are  worth ;  that  through  the 
exercise  of  them  he  reap  his  full  legitimate  reward. 
But  this  can  seldom  be  in  a  world  where  the  denizens 
set  out  as  they  do  here,  some  the  pets  of  fortune, 
their  every  want  anticipated,  all  facilities  of  ed- 
ucation provided  —  books,  teachers,  travel,  money, 
everjlhing  needful  —  the  best  society  opening  its 
doors  to  them,  an  exalted  position  in  business  or 
professional  life  awaiting  them  at  maturity ;  others, 
with  better  heads,  it  may  be,  and  better  hearts,  born 
to  poverty,  deprived  of  any  such  opportunities,  mak- 
ing their  way  to  some  education  with  extreme  diffi- 
culty, struggling  for  every  point  of  vantage  gained, 
handicapped  at  every  step.  This  monstrous  inequality 
is  not  to  be  glossed  over  by  citing  here  and  there  a 
genius  who  in  spite  of  poverty  has  risen  to  eminence, 
or  by  citing  any  number  of  weaklings  on  whom  the 
favors  of  fortune  have  been  wasted.  We  all  know 
that  privileges,  opportunities,  all  good  things,  are 
helps,  priceless  helps ;  we  observe,  too,  that  those 
who  preach  "  smooth  things,"  and  tell  us  how  sweet 
is  adversity,  how  heavenly  the  chastening  pinch  of 
want,  what  spiritual  grace  derives  from  the  discipline 
of  suffering,  what  strength  from  the  bearing  of 
heaviest  burdens,  do  not  go  to  any  pains  to  have  a 
child  of  theirs  taste  the  "  blessedness  of  drudgery  " 
and  store  up  the  paradisical  fruits  of  a  life-and-death 
struggle  for  existence.  In  the  generosity  of  their 
hearts  they  are  quite  willing  that  other  people's 
children  should  receive  the  exclusive  benefit  of  all 
that   sort   of   thing. 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  123 

There  are  those  who  evidently  regard  the  existing 
social  order  as  of  divine  institution,  and  who, 
accordingly,  denounce  as  sacrilege  any  proposal  to 
subvert  or  materially  change  it.  Unless  the  rest  of 
us  have  a  wholly  distorted  moral  vision,  such  minds 
are  laboring  under  a  pitiable  confusion  of  the  divine 
with  the  diabolical.  Is  it  conceivable  that  the  All- 
Good  has  given  His  sanction  to  a  system  of  things 
by  which  a  fraction  of  His  children  come  into  the 
world  trailing,  for  "  clouds  of  glory,"  titles  and 
possessions  immeasurably  beyond  the  needs  of  any 
man,  while  the  vast  majority  —  equally  deserving,  as 
far  as  desert  can  be  predicated  of  creatures  who  as 
yet  have  done  nothing  —  appear  in  such  wretched  case 
that  their  very  nakedness  symbolizes  to  perfection 
their  utter  abandonment  by  the  fate  that  has  brought 
them?  Would  defenders  of  the  system  have  us  think 
that  this  is  the  equity  of  a  divine  Providence?  that 
a  world  so  existing  has  attained  any  semblance  of 
a  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  or  ever  can  attain  it  under 
a  social  order  so  monstrously  inequitable?  Or  are 
they  so  far  gone  in  Mammon-worship  as  actually  to 
think  "  Providence "  has  them  and  theirs  for  its 
favorites,  and  into  their  hands  for  mysterious  ends 
commits  the  lion's  share  of  earthly  good,  —  as,  in 
an  industrial  crisis,  was  assumed  by  one  of  the 
Pennsylvania  coal-barons  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  justify  that  which  in  the  operation 
of  a  system  facilitates  the  accumulation  by  any  one 
man  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars ;  as,  making 
exception  of  such  benefactions  as  those  of  Lister  and 


124  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Pasteur  which  are  incommensurable  with  gold,  it  is 
not  possible  for  one  by  any  and  all  honest  labor  to 
earn  such  sums.  By  hook  or  by  crook  they  are 
acquired,  as  they  certainly  will  not  be  under  the 
better  order  to  come.  But  here  we  pass  over  all 
that.  So  long  as  grasping  and  over-reaching  are 
winked  at,  the  accumulation  of  colossal  fortunes  will 
have  its  justification.  Acquired  by  fair  means  or  by 
foul,  so  far  as  they  are  the  personal  acquisition  of 
the  holders  they  are  not  absolutely  unmerited ;  the 
holders  have  done  something  to  give  them  a  title. 
Altogether  different  is  it  with  him  who  comes  into 
the  succession  of  millions  which  he  has  had  no  hapd 
in  accumulating,  who  has  done  nothing  whatever 
to  entitle  him  to  those  riches.  Enormous  wealth  in 
the  hands  of  one  man  in  a  community  is  not  for  the 
public  weal,  yet  is,  at  the  worst,  a  limited  evil 
provided  that  it  terminates  at  his  death ;  perpetuated 
in  the  family  from  generation  to  generation,  it 
becomes  a  veritable  social  menace,  the  undying 
plutocrat  absorbing  an  ever-increasing  part  of  the 
earnings  of  the  people  until  their  dependence  is 
complete,  and,  unless  socialism  intervenes,  a  feudalism 
results  worse  than  that  of  centuries  gone  by. 

FUNDAMENTAL    .SOCIALIST    AIMS 
MEANS    AND    MEASURES    FOR    CARRYING    THEM    OUT 

But  it  is  one  thing  to  point  out  an  injustice  in 
statute  or  custom,  and  another  thing  to  rectify  it. 
We  may  propose  fine  schemes  for  the  purpose,  and 
fail    to    get    any    one    of    them    put    in    the    way    of 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  125 

realization ;  after  all  is  said  and  done,  the  world 
goes  on  in  its  beaten  track.  Enormous  are  the 
obstacles  that  confront  the  two  socialist  proposals, 
(1),  putting  into  possession  of  the  collectivity  of 
workers  the  instruments  of  production,  and  (2),  doing 
away  with  succession  to  fortunes  by  inheritance.  In 
fact  it  does  not  yet  appear  how  these  so  desirable 
objects  are  to  be  accomplished,  —  how,  that  is,  within 
a  period  not  hopelessly  long,  the  constitutions  of 
States  are  to  be  so  modified  as  to  permit  such 
procedures,  and  the  laws  embodying  them  enacted. 
Where,  indeed,  after  two  generations  of  scientific 
socialists,  stands,  as  to  realization,  the  first  and  most 
fundamental  of  their  propositions  ?  Some  enlargement 
of  State  and  municipal  ownership  is  to  be  seen,  much 
of  which,  however,  is  for  strategic  ends,  and  therefore 
anti-social  rather  than  socialistic ;  some  voluntary 
co-operation  of  the  working  people,  imposingly 
successful,  particularly  in  England  and  Belgium,  in 
the  way  of  distribution ;  but  in  production,  where 
the  crux  really  lies,  showing  from  lack  of  capital 
results  too  small  to  bring  the  desired  consummation 
within  glimpse  of  the  longest  sight.  Henry  George's 
land  scheme  —  which  is  far  from  meeting  the  socialist 
demand  —  has  made  some  headway  in  new  countries 
where  land  is  of  little  value,  but  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  its  acceptance  in  our  day  where  land  is 
dear  are  apparently  insurmovmtable.  Difficulties  even 
greater,  it  must  be  confessed,  obstruct  the  plan  here 
advocated  of  socializing  all  instruments  of  industry  — 
mines,  factories,  machines,  railroads,  telegraphs  —  as 


126  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

well  as  the  land.  Of  the  two  possible  ways  of 
ultimately  accomplishing  this,  that  of  violent  revolu- 
tion has,  in  respect  of  speedy  achievement,  no 
advantage  over  the  other;  for  a  successful  armed 
uprising  of  the  proletariat  is  out  of  the  question 
until  the  people  committed  to  the  cause  are  in  a  large 
majority,  and  when  they  are  in  a  large  majority 
they  can  attain  their  ends  quite  as  quickly  by  peaceful 
means  wherever  there  is  universal  suffrage. 

Although  the  full  demands  of  the  party  are  not 
going  to  be  met  till  socialists  become  a  majority  of 
the  voters,  from  now  on  we  may  expect  to  see 
legislation  inclining  more  and  more  their  way  as  their 
numbers  and  influence  increase.  A  show  of  energy 
will  be  directed  against  vast  and  unscrupulous 
accumulation  of  wealth,  and  particularly  against  its 
combinations  for  unsocial  ends.  Little  by  little 
measures  will  be  resorted  to  which  will  be  denounced 
as  high-handed,  oppressive,  confiscatory  even;  but,  as 
they  will  be  taken  simultaneously  in  all  the  foremost 
countries,  aggrieved  capital  will  be  disarmed  of  its 
favorite  threat  to  go  abroad.  The  unearned  increment 
in  land  value,  already  touched  in  the  budgets  of 
England  and  France,  will  be  increasingly  absorbed 
for  public  uses,  coming  at  length  to  be  entirely 
appropriated  by  and  for  the  people  whose  just  title 
to  it  has  long  been  held  good  by  certain  of  the 
foremost  economists.  A  progressive  income-tax, 
putting  the  burden  of  government  expenses  most  on 
the  shoulders  best  able  to  bear  it,  will  perhaps  take 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  127 

the  place  of  all  indirect  taxation  ingeniously  contrived 
to  delude  the  people,  and  iniquitously  falling  upon 
the  multitude  of  consumers  who  are  poor.  These 
and  all  such  measures,  however,  since  they  are  taken 
only  to  meet  more  equitably  the  present  needs  of 
the  government,  come  short  of  making  any  least 
provision  for  carrying  out  the  main  idea  of  socialism, 
which  is,  to  put  the  workers  in  control  of  the  means 
of  production.  For  that  there  is  needed  legislation 
looking  to  the  accumulation  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
of  a  large  fund  expressly  consecrated  to  the  purpose 
of  acquiring  industrial  properties  to  be  forever  kept 
free  from  the  domination  of  private  capital.  Whence 
is  a  sum  adequate  for  such  a  stupendous  undertaking 
to  be  derived? 

The  inane  programme  so  frequently  set  forth  of 
arbitrarily  dispossessing  the  capitalists,  and,  for  com- 
pensation, putting  them  on  terminable  annuities  of, 
say,  one  per  cent,  of  the  spoil,  has  done  more  than 
any  other  one  thing  to  discredit  our  movement.*  The 
utter  impracticability  of  any  such  scheme  is  enough 
to  give  the  system  with  which  it  is  associated  a  look 
of  moonshine.     If  capital  is  to  be  socialized,  if  the 


*  Thus  Gronlund  :  '*  Let  a  true  valuation  be  made  of  the 
plants  turned  over  to  the  community  —  all  the  water  of  course 
squeezed  out  ;  then  let  the  collectivity  compensate  the  'owners' 
by  paying  annuities.  Assume  there  be  a  Vanderbilt  honestly 
entitled  to  $100,000,000,  pay  him  $1,000,000  a  year  for  a  hun- 
dred years,  without  interest  of  course,  and  that  will  settle  the 
account."      The  New  Economy,  p.  ZZ. 


128  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

vast  fund  requisite  for  acquiring  the  principal  means 
of  production  is  to  be  transferred  from  private  pos- 
session to  the  public  treasury,  some  less  high-handed 
way  of  doing  it  must  be  found. 

""As  prominent  socialists  have  come  to  think,  the 
proper  means  by  which  to  accumulate  this  fund  is  a 
thorough-going  inheritance-tax.  The  plans  proposed 
differ  as  to  the  form  of  the  tax,  and  therefore  are 
up  for  discussion.  One  of  the  more  radical  is  that 
of  Letourneau.     He  says  : 

"  Without  having  recourse  to  any  violent  procedure, 
respecting  duly  all  acquired  rights,  even  the  wrongly 
acquired,  the  community  can,  when  it  will,  adopt  and 
enforce  some  gradual  measures  covering  a  long 
period,  looking  especially  to  the  future.  In  such  a 
manner  Brazil  in  1871  proceeded  with  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  which  it  desired  to  accomplish  without 
revolution  or  civil  war.  A  law  was  passed  emanci- 
pating all  children  thereafter  born  of  slave  parentage. 
Having  taken  this  first  step,  the  government,  seventeen 
years  later,  was  able  to  decree  complete  abolition  of 
slavery  without  shock  to  the  civil  order.  So,  by 
stages,  we  may  deal  with  the  matter  of  inheritance. 
Let  the  State  from  this  time  on  increase  by  degrees 
the  rigor  of  its  laws  touching  succession  to  properties. 
These  laws  are  of  unquestioned  legitimacy ;  let  the 
taxes  imposed  be  progressively  elevated ;  let  them  be 
graduated,  not  after  the  degree  of  relationship  of  the 
legatee,  but  according  to  the  amount  of  the  heritage. 
This  progression  in  the  rate  of  taxation,  wisely 
arranged  to  go  on  slowly  through  a  long  series  of 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  129 

years,  might  make  it  possible  to  reach  without  grave 
disturbance  the  total  or  nearly  total  abolition  of 
inheritance."  * 

No  legal  provision  permissible  under  the  existing 
order  of  things  has  such  possibilities  for  good  as  the 
inheritance-tax.  It  takes  from  no  person  anything 
that  is  his,  anything  that  he  ever  possessed  or  ever 
earned ;  it,  in  a  manner,  puts  something  of  the  excess 
that  has  fallen  to  a  few,  over  to  the  credit  of  all ; 
it  tends  to  stay  the  development  of  enormous  wealth 
in  family  lines,  the  building  up  of  plutocratic  houses, 
some  of  which  already  rival,  if  they  do  not  surpass, 
in  power  the  royal  houses  of  the  time;  and  if  the 
proceeds  of  the  tax  were  only  sacredly  applied  to 
the  uplift  of  the  classes  whose  toil  has  created  the 
wealth,  there  is  no  measuring  the  beneficence  it  might 
be  made  to  work.  It  has  already  in  its  beginnings 
found  a  place  in  the  codes  of  most  countries,  and 
as  the  justice  of  the  principle  on  which  it  stands  is 
not  in  question,  its  stringency  may  be  increased  as 
the  public  welfare  may  seem  to  require.  If  the  State 
has  the  right  to  levy  a  tax  of  from  1  to  20  per  cent, 
on  successions,  we  may  suppose  it  has  equal  right 
to  make  it  40  or  60  per  cent.  In  general  the  rule 
has  been  to  graduate  the  rate  (within  a  certain  range) 
to  the  size  of  the  fortune  inherited,  beginning  at  the 
lower  limit  with  estates  exceeding  a  very  modest  value, 
and  running  to  the  upper  limit  for  vast  properties. 
Next  of  kin  are  commonly  protected  by  striking  with 


*  L' Evolution  de  la  Propriete,  pp.  501,  502. 


130  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  heaviest  tax  bequests  to  collaterals  or  to  strangers ; 
these  in  France  being  hit  as  high  as  12  per  cent, 
stamps  in  addition  carrying  the  cost  up  to  15  or  18 
per  cent,  on  moderate  fortunes.  In  England  the 
State  takes  about  the  same  share.  Italy  has  an  even 
higher  maximum. 

AN     INHERITANCE-TAX    TO    BE    EXCLUSIVELY    FOR    THE 

PURPOSE    OF    SOCIALIZING    THE    MEANS 

OF    PRODUCTION 

So  far  the  most  conscious  purpose  of  these  laws 
is  to  help  relieve  the  always  pressing  needs  of  the 
national  treasury,  though  the  possible  effect  on  the 
overgrowth  of  fortunes  is  beginning  to  be  recognized 
as  an  end.  It  remains  for  socialists  to  bring  home 
to  all  their  party  and  to  the  whole  thinking  public 
the  wisdom  of  consecrating  the  funds  derivable  from 
this  source  to  the  great  end  of  placing  the  instruments 
of  production  in  the  hands  of  the  producers.  Never 
before  in  the  world's  history  was  an  opportunity 
offered  at  one  sublime  stroke  to  put  on  the  way  to 
achievement  two  objects  of  such  immeasurable  impor- 
tance. No  existing  inheritance-tax  has  in  it  the  vigor 
requisite  for  this  masterful  accomplishment.  The 
instrument  must  be  made  for  the  purpose,  —  not 
contrived  just  to  eke  out  a  budget;  it  must  frankly 
expose  the  end  it  has  in  view,  and  therefore  it  may 
have  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  socialists  to  political 
power;  but  even  so,  nothing  can  be  more  appropriate 
for  present  consideration.  This  matter  of  heritage,  if 
not  the  very  next  thing  to  come  up  for  review  and 


I 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  131 

settlement  on  a  new  basis,  cannot,  it  would  seem,  in 
the  swift  transition  of  opinion  on  social  questions 
and  the  rapid  march  of  events,  be  long  deferred. 

Socialists  have  generally  commended  the  progressive 
form  of  inheritance-tax,  the  form,  that  is,  in  which 
the  rate  rises  with  the  magnitude  of  the  heritage; 
and  such  is  the  nature  of  the  regulations  commonly 
adopted,  though  as  yet  the  tariff  is  too  low  to  put 
any  noticeable  check  on  accumulation.  A  few  writers 
have  urged  that  this  and  other  important  ends  of  the 
tax  would  be  better  subserved  by  having  the  rate 
increase,  not  with  reference  to  the  amount  of  the 
inheritance,  but  with  reference  to  the  time  elapsing, 
the  number  of  generations  between  the  testator  and 
the  persons  who,  directly  or  indirectly,  become  the 
beneficiaries.  The  strength  of  the  custom  of 
inheritance,  that  which  will  make  its  abolition 
exceedingly  difhcult,  is  the  natural  desire  of  a  parent 
to  provide  as  well  as  possible  for  his  children  and 
his  grandchildren.  He  will  have  a  thought,  too,  for 
his  great-grandchildren  if  he  lives  to  see  some  of 
them.  But  further  on  down  the  line  he  has  no  special 
care  for  his  posterity ;  they  merge  themselves  in  the 
mass  of  the  now  formless  and  non-existent,  and  are 
indistinguishable  from  other  persons  yet  unborn. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  devise  some  plan  of  an 
inheritance-tax  which  should  meet  this  so  natural  wish 
to  continue  one's  bounty  after  one's  death  to  those 
who  have  thus  far  been  the  recipients  of  it,  and  the 
equally  natural  lack  of  any  special  interest  in 
individuals  not  now  existing  and  whose  existence  at 


132  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

any  future  time  is  problematical.  Such  a  plan,  could 
it  be  hit  upon,  would  escape  the  resistance  which 
abolition  of  inheritance  must  encounter,  while  at  the 
same  time  working  out  substantially  identical  social 
benefits. 

NEW  FORMS  OF  INHERITAN'CE-TAX  SUGGESTED 

It  has  been  proposed  that  succession  be  limited  to 
one  degree,  that  the  property,  for  example,  of  a 
deceased  father,  after  payment  of  the  inheritance-tax, 
pass  to  his  heirs,  but  not  to  be  again  inherited  —  in 
other  words  to  be  subjected  on  the  death  of  those 
heirs  to  a  second  inheritance-tax  of  100  per  cent. ; 
the  idea  being  that  each  generation  out  of  its  own 
accumulations  is  bound  to  make  provision  for  its 
immediate  successor  and  its  immediate  successor  only. 
This  has  seemed  to  others  too  brusque,  and  as  not 
answering  the  demands  of  natural  afifection,  often  as 
strong  for  grandchildren  as  for  children. 

Eugenio  Rignano  has  worked  out  a  project  which 
has  more  to  commend  it.*  He  would  not  have  the 
heritage  entirely  eaten  up  by  the  tax  after  the  first 
transmission.  The  plan  as  he  unfolds  it  contemplates 
two  successions,  the  tax  increasing  in  each  instance, 
and  consuming  the  remnant  on  the  death  of  the 
heirs  of  the  second  generation.  He  is  not,  however, 
insistent  on  details,  contending  only  for  a  heavy  and 
increasing  tax  which  shall  absorb  the  entire  legacy 
within  a  limited  period,   so  tending   strongly  to  the 


*  Put   in   French    by   Adolphe    Landry   under    the   title,    La 
Question  de  I'Heritage. 


The  Next  Steps  to  be  Taken  133 

nationalizing  of  property  which  is  to  make  possible 
the  acquisition  by  the  State  of  the  instruments  of 
industry  for  the  workers.  Considering  the  gravity 
of  what  he  sets  out  to  do,  his  scheme  is  fairly  simple, 
and  will  be  grasped  after  a  few  moments  of  careful 
attention.  To  bring  matters  concretely  before  us, 
let  us  suppose  the  plan  now  just  put  in  operation,  and 
that  one,  whom  we  will  call  A,  dies,  leaving  an 
estate  vahied  at  $100,000.  It  pays  a  tax  of  2>?)\ 
per  cent.,  and  the  legatee  B  receives  the  residue, 
$66,666 1.  This  amount,  in  passing,  on  the  death 
of  B,  to  C,  is  subjected  to  a  tax  of  66|  per  cent., — 
twice  as  high  as  that  imposed  in  the  first  instance; 
and  the  entire  remainder,  on  the  death  of  C,  is 
absorbed  by  the  State.  Thus  the  principal  of  A's 
fortune,  v.'ith  the  passing  of  the  second  following 
generation,  becomes  nationalized.  On  the  supposition 
that  B  in  the  course  of  his  life  by  energy  and 
economy  in  the  handling  of  his  inheritance  doubles 
it,  the  increment,  $66,666|,  most  distinctly  his  own, 
goes  at  his  death,  less  the  tax,  2)2)\  per  cent.,  to 
C,  who  in  turn  thriftily  doubles  what  he  has  re- 
ceived by  inheritance.  And  so  the  process  goes  on, 
with  the  result  that  the  several  successors  (they  are 
not  necessarily  single  individuals),  are  seized  of 
properties  as  follows : 

B,  $66,666.66, 

C,  $66,666.66, 

D,  $59,259.26, 

E,  $54,321.99, 

F,  $49,382.71. 


134  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Two  or  three  points  of  this  scheme  seem  to  call 
for  amendment.  To  old  people  who  have  great- 
grandchildren and  love  them,  it  will  look  like  a 
needless  pain  to  be  debarred  from  handing  down 
to  them  a  little  legacy.  The  defect,  if  such  it  is, 
arises  from  a  too  rapidly- climbing  inheritance -tax, 
the  rates  suggested  (to  be  sure  they  are  only  sug- 
gested, and  open  to  modification)  of  33^,  66|,  100 
per  cent.,  consuming  the  heritage  before  it  can  reach 
the  great-grandchildren.  We  note  also  that  the 
properties  coming  to  the  legatee  in  succession,  come 
diminishing  at  a  rather  alarming  rate  for  moderate 
fortunes,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  each  recipient 
is  represented  as  doubling  the  patrimony  falling  to 
him. 

DEVELOPMENT   AND   MODIFICATION   OF  RIGNANO's   PRO- 
POSAL    (a    SECTION    TO    BE    PASSED    LIGHTLY    OVER 

by  readers  with  a  distaste  for  symbols  and 
formula) 

To  remedy  what  is  not  quite  satisfactory  to  us  in 
Rignano's  development  of  his  scheme,  we  may  venture 
to  amend  his  work  in  some  particulars.  Beside  the 
two  defects  just  mentioned,  a  more  considerable  one 
is,  the  application  of  one  uniform  rate  of  taxation  to 
all  inheritances,  large  and  small.  It  were  more  to 
the  socialistic  purpose  to  exempt  estates  of  not  more 
than  a  few  thousand  dollars,  and  also  to  preserve 
the  progressive  feature  of  most  of  the  existing 
inheritance-tax  laws  —  progressive  as  respects  the 
amount  of  the  legacies,  —  combining  it  with  the  new 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  135 

feature  of  progression  in  time;  the  tax,  that  is, 
increasing  at  each  successive  transmission.  The 
combination  involves  no  difficulty,  as  will  be  seen, 
and  the  advantages  to  be  gained  are  very  great. 
Social  well-being  is  furthered  —  for  the  present  at 
any  rate  —  by  the  reduction  of  vast  fortunes,  by  the 
growth  of  small  ones,  and  by  the  maintenance  of 
moderate  ones  in  equilibrium.  The  best  form  of 
inheritance-tax  is  that  which  will  contribute  to  all 
three  of  these  ends.  Let  us  see  definitely  what  can 
be  proposed  that  will  be  least  open  to  objection. 
No  finality  is  to  be  attempted,  only  something  to 
clear  the  way. 

Let  the  progressive  percentages  of  the  tax  be  30, 
60,  90,  and  100  ;  so  carrying  a  heritage  over  to  three 
generations  instead  of  two.  If  now  we  represent  the 
amount  of  the  inheritances  coming  into  the  hands  of 
B,  Cy  D,  E,  F  (five  generations),  by  b,  c,  d,  e,  f,  and 
the  fortune  of  A,  at  whose  death  the  scheme  goes 
into  operation,  by  a,  we  have,  after  deducting  the  30 
per  cent,  tax,  b  =  -^a.  On  ^'s  death  he  leaves 
behind  this  -^-^a,  which,  subjected  to  a  tax  of  60  per 
cent,  yields  to  C,  -^^a.  B  also  leaves  his  own  ac- 
cumulation, which,  following  Rignano,  we  will  suppose 
equals  the  amount  he  received  from  A,  that  is,  -^-^a, 
or  b.  Deducting  from  this  the  30  per  cent,  inherit- 
ance-tax, we  have  -^b,  which  added  to  Cs  -^-^^a 
makes  him  commence  with  -^-^a  -\-  ^b.  On  the 
death  of  C,  his  yVo^  ^^  taxed  90  per  cent.,  leaving  to 
D  out  of  his  great-grandfather's  estate  ylf  o^.  There 
comes   to  him  from  his  grandfather  (as  does  the  pre- 


136  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ceding  item,  indirectly,  through  C),  ^b,  less  the  tax 
of  60  per  cent,  laid  on  a  second  transmission  of  a  leg- 
acy, the  remainder  being  -^-^^b.  Finally  there  is  his 
father's  own  accumulation,  which  by  hypothesis  equals 
his  inheritance,  c,  and  which,  deducting  the  30  per 
cent,  tax,  clears  up  ^c.  The  sum,  therefore,  of  D  's  in- 
heritance, in  three  symbols  indicating  its  three  sources, 
is  tI f  o«  +  ToV  +  T¥^-  Continuing  this  process, 
the  formula  for  five  generations  stands  : 

b  =  ^\a 

d  2  8_^   _i_   _2  8_  A   _|_   _J_r 

f   2  8_/-    _J_    _2_8_//  -I-    -3-e 

J     T¥00''       \       lOo"      \^    lO'^ 

If  now  we  put  A%  fortune  at  $100,000,  we  have  the 
five  successive  inheritances  (taxes  paid)  as  follows : 


b  =   TT)«  = 

$70,000 

^  =  tVo^  = 

$77,000 

J 7  6  3^  

"  1  0  0  o"  — 

$76,300 

.  7693^  

^     1000  o"^ 

$76,930 

J     TO'ITOOO'* 

:  $77,371 

It  will  be  observed  that  this  rate  of  taxation,  30, 
60,  90,  100,  per  cent,  on  successive  inheritances, 
provides  —  on  the  reasonable  supposition  that  each 
inheritor  doubles  what  falls  to  him  —  against  the 
dwindling  of  an  inheritance,  which  for  moderate  hold- 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  137 

ings  seems  a  desirable  feature,  especially  when  we 
consider  that  in  most  cases  there  will  be  a  plurality 
of  immediate  heirs,  and  in  the  next  generation  a 
further  increase.  It  should  also  be  noted  that,  not 
to  unduly  discourage  accumulation,  the  lowest  tax  in 
this  scheme  is  laid  on  that  part  of  a  man's  property 
which  he  has  himself  amassed.  Variation  of  this  par- 
ticular part  of  the  tax  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude 
of  the  estate,  is  the  chief  emendation  here  offered  to 
Rignano.  The  rich  man's  ambition  to  accumulate 
may  ordinarily  be  checked  without  detriment  to  so- 
ciety, perhaps  to  its  great  gain  ;  but  not  so  with  the 
poor  man's.  It  is  highly  important  that  there  be 
held  out  to  him  every  honorable  inducement  to  lay 
something  by,  and  that  he  have  fair  opportunity  for 
doing  so.  Small  estates  should  be  exempt.  Proper- 
ties from  the  limit  of  exemption  up  to  $100,000 
might  bear  the  percentages  20,  60,  90,  100  The 
algebraic  formula  for  these  rates  is  : 


b  = 

8a 
1  0 

c  = 

3  2"       1        8*    — 
10  0       1^    1  0 

-     9  6a 

"10  0 

d  = 

3  2a         I        3  2* 

Tooro"  n^  T"oo 

4-   -8^   = 

r    1  0  — 

10  5  6a 
TOITO 

e  = 

326        1       32C 

10  0  0       1^    10  0 

4-  8  rf   — 

1^    1  0 

077.6? 
llTO  0¥ 

f  .3AS^   -I-   J.2^    -U   3L   13  10  7  2a 

J  1000     y^   100     1^  10  100000 

If  now  we  put  As,  fortune  at  $10,000,  we  have  the 
amounts  falling  to  five  generations  of  his  descendants, 
supposing  each  to  double  his  inheritance :  $8000, 
;^9600,  $10,560,  $11,776,  $13,107. 


138  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

For  very  large  fortunes  a  stronger  disintegrating 
force  needs  to  be  applied  in  the  several  transmissions, 
or  at  least  at  the  beginning.  Frankly,  one  of  the 
main  objects  being  to  reduce  these  fortunes  to  mod- 
erate size,  we  must  not  shrink  from  severity.  Con- 
sidering what  a  fortune  of  $10,000  is  made  to  bear 
above,  a  man  with  $10,000,000  ought  not  to  object 
to  the  series  of  percentages  :  50,  60,  90,  100.* 
Taking  these  figures,  for  the  first  five  inheritances 
(doubling  as  before)  we  get : 

b  =  ^=  $5,000,000 

^  =  f  +  I-  =  m  =  $4,500,000 

^=To+z  +  Y  =  nn  =  $3,450,000 
^  =  -5or~ry  +  ^  =  Tiioirf  ^^  $2,725,000 
f^^^To'rz'T'i^^^  f^^lo'f  ^^  $2,142,500 

There  would  be  of  course  practical  difficulties  in 
carrying  into  effect  such  an  inheritance-tax.     No  great 


*  Since  the  writing  of  this  chapter  a  declaration  made  by  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie  at  a  dinner  given  in  his  honor  at  Los  Angeles  has 
appeared  which  is  of  interest  in  this  connection  as  bringing  to  the 
initial  tax  here  proposed,  high  as  it  is,  the  corroboration  of  a  very 
rich  man.  His  words  as  reported  were :  "I  do  not  believe  in  an 
income-tax.  My  plan  is  simpler  and  better.  An  income-tax  would 
make  a  nation  of  liars.  Let  men  make  all  the  money  they  can  in 
their  lifetime,  du(  when  they  die  let  the  State  take  half  of  it.  That  is 
a  pretty  good  dividend." 

Not  long  since,  the  French  Chamber  would  have  made  the  inher- 
itance-tax 50  per  cent,  where  there  is  but  one  heir  in  direct  line,  and 
20  per  cent,  where  there  are  only  two  or  three  such  heirs ;  but  the 
Senate  refused  to  concur. 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  139 

thing  is  accomplished  without  effort.  To  avoid  the 
dissipation  of  a  legacy  under  the  new  circumstances 
it  may  be  necessary  to  limit  the  title  to  a  life  use  of 
the  property,  under  security  to  keep  the  principal 
intact.  There  would  have  to  be  provision  by  which 
large  conveyances  as  gifts,  effected  in  the  lifetime 
of  the  giver,  should  come  under  the  same  tax  as  a 
bequest.  These,  however,  are  matters  of  procedure^ 
and  not  beyond  the  ingenuity  of  law-makers. 

COLLECTIVE    IN    LIEU    OF    PRIVATE    CAPITAL 

The  adoption  of  such  a  plan  means  vast  accumu- 
lation of  property  in  the  hands  of  the  State,  and  so 
the  tax  is  to  be  contradistinguished  from  all  ordinary 
taxation.  Ordinary  taxes  are  for  the  current  ex- 
penses of  government,  and  are  expected  to  be  entirely 
disbursed  year  by  year.  Not  so  with  this.  No  part 
of  the  inheritance-tax  here  proposed  (beyond  the 
expenses  of  the  bureau  of  administration  of  the  new 
Department  of  Industry)  is  ever  to  pass  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  State.  Not  a  dollar  of  it  is  ever  to  go 
to  help  make  up  a  deficit,  to  the  building  of  warships, 
fortresses,  palaces.  The  dissipation  of  this  sacred 
trust  in  any  such  manner  would  be  the  impoverish- 
ment and  ruin  of  the  nation.  The  wealth  of  the 
nation  is  to  be  in  no  slightest  degree  lessened  by  the 
operation  of  this  tax ;  it  is  simply  to  be,  in  a  con- 
siderable measure  and  by  easy  stages,  transferred 
from  individuals  to  the  collectivity.  It  is  to  remain 
capital,  but  public  capital,  to  be  managed  by  guard- 
ians appointed  by  the  government.     These  guardians 


140  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

will  naturally  be  the  very  men  (or  men  of  their 
type)  who  are  now  conducting  great  enterprises,  men 
who  have  extraordinary  faculty  for  affairs.  For  this 
reason,  and  because  the  change  will  come  gradually, 
no  business  shock  will  be  produced;  ever}thing  will 
go  on  —  for  the  time  —  much  as  before ;  people  gen- 
erally will  find  themselves  doing  the  same  work,  — 
only  they  will  feel  that  they  have  been  delivered  from 
a  devouring  greed  in  them  and  around  them,  from  the 
hideous  dilemma  which  forces  a  choice  between  swal- 
lowing and  being  swallowed  by  their  rivals. 

The  intent  is  to  change  the  State  in  its  essential 
character  from  an  almost  purely  political  to  a  pre- 
dominantly industrial  institution ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  by  the  same  measure  of  gradually  withdrawing 
capital  from  private  hands,  to  check  the  growth  of 
a  plutocracy ;  —  or,  rather,  to  draw  the  life-blood  of 
the  monster,  which  now  lifts  its  Gorgon  head  beside 
the  government  nominally  representative,  dictating 
more  or  less  the  laws,  and  threatening,  as  its  billions 
multiply,  to  rule  the  country  absolutely,  while,  per- 
haps, leaving  the  people  the  empty  appearance  of 
ruling. 

Some  such  inheritance-tax  as  that  above  outlined 
seems  the  only  means  of  peacefully  saving  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people  and  placing  them  on  a  substantial 
basis.  Here  and  there  a  multi-millionaire  begins  to 
show  signs  of  feeling  that  he  and  his  class  are  a 
menace  to  the  Republic;  is  actually  taking  steps  to 
reduce  his  fortune  to  less  alarming  proportions.     The 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  141 

socialist  State  would  do  this  with  more  wisdom.  It 
would  go  slowly,  do  no  harm  to  the  rich,  make  no 
gifts  to  the  poor.  In  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
or  so  there  would  be  quite  a  falling  off  in  the  number 
of  millionaires  without  any  reduction  of  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  That  wealth,  on  the  contrary,  would 
presumably  go  on  increasing  more  rapidly  than  ever 
under  the  stimulation  to  industry  given  by  the  new 
order  as  by  this  process  it  comes  gradually  into  oper- 
ation. 

"Childish  prattle,  all  this,"  we  shall  hear  it  said; 
"  another  unrealizable  poor-man's  Utopia !  "  And,  in- 
deed, this  so  great  advance  is  not  going  to  be  made  at 
a  bound ;  there  are  too  many  obstacles  in  the  way. 
But  it  will  be  made  little  by  little,  and  at  an  accel- 
erating pace,  if  we  may  judge  of  the  future  by  the 
past.  In  the  meantime  let  it  be  observed,  there  is 
nothing  in  this  proposal  but  that  is  amply  justified 
in  principle  by  existing  inheritance-tax  laws ;  nothing 
in  it  but  that  is  eminently  for  the  public  weal ;  noth- 
ing to  strike  any  rational  mind  capable  of  compre- 
hending it  and  not  hopelessly  blinded  by  self-interest, 
as  other  than  just,  wise,  and  beneficent.  And  it  is  not 
unrealizable  ;  it  waits  only  on  the  will  of  the  people. 

The  first  to  turn  the  scale  of  opinion  are  likely 
to  be  certain  of  the  thoughtful  rich  who  are  finding 
the  task  of  satisfactorily  disposing  of  their  millions 
as  difficult  as  was  the  acquisition,  and  who  will  be 
ready  to  approve  the  course  above  outlined  when 
they  once  see  that,  of  all  the  beneficences  to  which 


142  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  wealth  of  a  nation  can  be  applied,  socializing  the 
instruments  of  industry  is  the  greatest,  and  that  in 
no  thinkable  way  other  than  that  here  indicated  (short 
of  flat  confiscation)  is  this  thing  to  be  accompUshed. 
It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  therefore,  that  these 
principles  be  brought  home  to  the  minds  of  all  the 
people;  not  merely  to  those  who  may  be  said  to 
have  the  most  obvious  interest  in  them,  who  are 
the  ones  directly  to  benefit  from  their  application, 
but  to  others  as  well;  to  the  people  of  great  pos- 
sessions and  great  hearts  too,  who  feel  as  keenly  as 
the  rest  of  us  that  there  is  something  wrong  in  the 
arrangements  of  a  world  where  the  bounties  fall  so 
exclusively  to  one  class,  and  the  burdens  to  another. 

Perhaps  the  main  obstacle  to  even  the  consideration 
of  these  plans  is  lack  of  confidence  in  the  State  as 
the  depositary  of  such  great  trusts  and  conductor  of 
such  vast  enterprises.  We  have  seen  so  much  cor- 
ruption in  municipal  and  State  governments  that  we 
shrink  from  enlarging  for  our  magistrates  their  al- 
ready too  great  opportunities  for  villainy.  But  this 
sad  and  hideously  frequent  spectacle  is  the  legitimate 
outcome  of  the  existing  social  order,  which  operates 
to  put  a  premium  on  fraud  and  excites  cupidity  to 
the  danger  point  by  all  manner  of  inticements.  We 
cannot  too  soon  move  away  from  it.  Happily  there 
is  more  honor  in  national  governments,  and  their 
probity  strengthens  with  the  growth  of  their  respon- 
sibilities; they  become  purified  as  they  concern  them- 
selves with  the  development  of  multifarious  internal 
affairs. 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  143 

From  some  enlargement  of  the  inheritance-tax,  if 
at  all,  is  to  come  that  extensive  nationalization  of 
property  which  will  enable  the  State  to  acquire  pos- 
session —  in  ways  that  wisdom  born  of  wider  ex- 
perience shall  approve  —  of  the  instruments  of  pro- 
duction, and  transform  itself  beneficently  into  an 
industrial  organization,  becoming  a  new  and  innocent, 
yet  most  efficient  sort  of  trust,  one  to  use  the  great 
advantages  of  a  practical  monopoly,  not  for  any 
private,  personal  end,  but  for  the  enrichment  of  the 
whole  people,  for  that  equalization  of  opportunity, 
that  just  reward  of  toil,  whether  of  the  hand  or  of 
the  head,  which  are  the  fair  fulfilment  of  the  demo- 
cratic idea. 

A  long-suffering  people's  redemption  awaits  the 
will  of  the  people  themselves.  When  they  shall  have 
learned  that,  since  they — the  proletariat  —  are  the 
great  majority  they  have  but  to  stand  together  and 
pull  together,  the  hour  of  their  deliverance  will  have 
struck.  This  is  in  theory  so  simple  a  proposition, 
so  self-evident,  that  one  wonders  it  should  be  so  slow 
in  taking  effect.  Marx'  call :  "  Proletarians,  unite !  " 
should,  one  would  think,  have  been  promptly  re- 
sponded to  by  hundreds  of  millions,  so  clear  is  it  that 
they  have  a  common  interest,  and  so  obviously  sound 
is  the  maxim,  "  In  union  there  is  strength."  But  in 
reality  the  union  of  this  great  body  of  people,  the 
awakening  in  them  of  the  consciousness  that  they 
are  a  body,  has  been  found  difficult  of  accomplish- 
ment.    For  it  means  not  only  that   they  be  brought 


144  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  perceive  the  ends  to  be  reached,  but  also  that  they 
acquire  confidence  in  one  another,  develop  a  class 
feeling,  a  fellowship  of  suffering  and  of  protest,  an 
esprit  du  corps  which  shall  subordinate  immediate 
personal  interest  to  the  interest  of  all;  and  this  is 
not  the  work  of  a  day.  Happily  the  process  involves 
the  discipline  that  fits  for  responsibilities.  The  terror 
of  the  civilized  ages  has  been  the  possible  sudden 
rising,  at  the  beck  of  a  demagogue,  of  a  multitudi- 
nous, irresponsible  rabble,  putting  an  end  to  the  old 
order,  turning  the  world  upside  down.  Latin  America 
has  been  the  latest  theater  of  these  operations,  and 
has  shown  the  world  how  fruitless  of  good  are  revcH 
lutions  precipitated  by  the  ignorant  and  the  reckless. 
The  proletariat  coming  slowly  to  a  consciousness  of 
their  power  when  united,  coming  to  it  through  long^ 
experience  of  struggle  and  discipline,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  when  their  hour  of  tritunph  arrives, 
as  arrive  it  must,  they  wiU  have  attained  such  a 
sense  of  responsibility  in  the  use  of  that  power,  such 
a  measure  of  wisdom  in  administration,  as  wtU  insure 
just,  dispassionate,  humane  action.  Already  where 
socialists  are  a  veritable  political  force,  they  have 
shown  themselves  the  party  of  conscience,  of  intel- 
ligence, of  reform,  cleaning  up  the  slums  of  cities, 
bringing  in  good  municipal  government,  opposing  war 
and  preparation  for  war,  while  patiently  biding  their 
time.  * 


*  Htinter,  Socialists  at  Work,  ro.  30,  323. 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  145 

THE    WORK    BEFORE    US 

The  immediate  and  pressing  task,  therefore,  is  the 
development  of  a  political  organization  which  shall 
be  the  conscious  expression  of  unity,  and  which, 
placing  here  and  there  a  socialist  in  office,  shall  com- 
mand for  the  body  a  due  measure  of  respect.  Imagine 
the  consequences  in  this  country  if  the  socialist  party 
had  the  votes  of  one-half  or  even  of  one-fourth  of 
the  working-men,  and  in  Congress,  say,  one  hundred 
members,  with  the  prospect  at  the  next  election  of 
doubling  that  number.  In  how  different  a  position 
would  labor  be !  Instead  of  sporadic  strikes,  result- 
ing commonly  in  failure  and  in  heavy  losses,  —  con- 
fronting as  they  do  the  frowns  of  an  inconvenienced 
public,  the  massive  hostility  of .  capital,  and  the  au- 
thority of  an  unsympathetic  government,  —  there 
would  be  brought  to  bear  a  pressure  from  above 
compelling  consideration  of  the  demands  of  the 
workers  and  fair  arbitration  of  their  case,  —  the  poor 
devils  no  longer  left  to  the  despairing  resort  of  hurl- 
ing brick-bats,  firing  trams,  blowing  up  buildings,  or 
otherwise  breaking  the  peace. 

What  are  commonly  known  as  political  questions  — 
tariffs,  suffrage,  home-rule,  form  of  government 
even  —  are  not  half  as  important  as  simple  social 
justice  ;  but  everywhere  save  in  Russia'  there  is  deep 
feeling  over  them,  intense  excitement  as  the  elections 
come  on,  party  lines  rigidly  drawn.  Why  should  the 
gravest  matter  of  all  be  so  left  out  of  sight,  creating 


146  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  sea  of  politics?  How  is  it 
that  in  respect  of  labor,  and  labor  alone,  we  are  so 
thoroughly  Russianized,  so  lacking  in  political  organ- 
ization, so  unrepresented  in  the  government,  so  torpid 
at  the  polls?  We  must  own  that  at  this  point  we  are 
fresh  and  raw,  and  have  much  to  learn  from  other 
countries,  particularly  from  Germany  and  France. 

Right  bracing  at  this  time  comes  what,  let  us  hope, 
will  be  the  beginning  of  another  outlook  for  social- 
ism, its  first  political  victory  in  a  great  American 
city.  At  the  Milwaukee  municipal  election  of  April  5, 
1910,  the  Social  Democracy  polled  27,622  votes,  almost 
as  many  as  both  the  great  parties  combined,  capturing 
the  city  government.  The  party  platform  on  which 
this  triumph  was  achieved  puts  forward  as  ends  to  be 
attained  such  an  array  of  social-welfare  provisions  as 
to  bring  cheer  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  con- 
fusion to  the  faces  of  old-line  politicians  all  up  and 
down  the  land.  It  includes  the  initiative  and  refer- 
endum ;  improvement  of  the  public  schools ;  penny 
lunches;  trades-union  conditions  of  labor;  compul- 
sor}'^  sprinkling  of  their  streets  by  street-car  com- 
panies ;  a  seat  for  every  passenger  in  street  cars,  and 
three-cent  fare;  eight-hour  day  for  labor;  cheaper 
gas ;  municipal  plant  to  reduce  the  price  of  ice ; 
municipal  coal  and  wood  yard  to  reduce  the  price 
of  fuel;  municipal  lighting-plant  to  make  more  light 
at  less  cost;  extraction  from  corporations  of  their 
full  share  of  the  taxes ;  street  closets  and  comfort- 
stations;    work  for  the  unemployed  at  union  wages; 


The  Next  Steps  to  he  Taken  147 

widows  who  do  washing  for  the  support  of  families 
to  have  water-rates  remitted  by  the  city;  standard 
weight  of  bread  in  every  loaf.  The  socialist  mayor 
proposes  that  the  new  government  accomplish  all  this 
and  much  more.  Celebrating  the  victory,  he  rose  to 
these  high  sentiments :  "  Our  task  is  to  take  this, 
our  city,  and  make  of  it  a  home  —  a  real  home  —  for 
its  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  and  women  and 
children ;  a  place  where  there  is  little  room  for  tears 
and  heartaches ;  a  place  where  our  boys  can  become 
men  and  our  daughters  women;  a  place  where  virtue 
is  protected,  a  place  where  the  strong  stand  for  the 
weak,  holding  their  hands  over  the  heads  of  the  weak, 
shielding  them  from  all  harm.  Ours  is  the  task  of 
realizing  the  dreams  of  the  great  men  of  the  past." 

Still  more  important  than  getting  control  of  the 
government  of  a  great  city,  is  the  extraordinary  in- 
crease of  the  socialist  vote  in  the  various  States  in 
the  election  of  November  8,  1910,  the  crowning 
feature  of  which  was  the  placing  of  fourteen  social- 
ists in  the  Wisconsin  legislature,  and  one,  Mr.  Victor 
L.  Berger,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
This  really  looks  like  beginning  a  new  era. 

During  the  interval  between  the  two  significant 
elections  which  have  just  been  noted,  President  Taft 
declared  the  next  great  political  issue  to  be  the  prob- 
lem presented  by  socialism,  "  that  problem  than  which 
we  have  had  none  greater  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try." 


CHAPTER   V 

SOCIALISM   INTERNATIONAL 

A  perfectly  valid  objection  to  an  inheritance-tax 
law  drawn  to  embody  the  principle  advocated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  is  this :  the  effect  of  such  action, 
taken  by  one  country  alone,  would  be  large  with- 
drawal of  capital  to  other  countries.  Such  a  con- 
sequence not  even  a  convinced  socialist  legislature 
could  confront  with  equanimity.  Evidently,  drastic 
legislation  of  this  sort  can  be  practicable  only  when 
the  leading  nations  generally  are  ready  to  adopt  it. 
Just  as  it  was  found  in  the  time  of  Owen  and  Con- 
siderant  that  socialism  could  not  be  successfully 
inaugurated  by  isolated  communities  in  the  midst  of 
a  population  following  the  old  order,  so  would  it  be 
now  with  any  attempt  of  this  or  that  State  to  take 
over  even  by  slow  degrees  the  wealth  of  dead 
men,  by  means  of  it  to  socialize  the  instruments  of 
production,  while  the  rest  of  the  nations  keep  to  the 
old  ways.  The  individuals  in  whose  hands  capital  is 
aggregated  are  not  going  to  look  on  quietly  and  see 
the  State  turned  into  an  industrial  rival  of  theirs, 
another  and  mightier  capitalist;  they  are  going  to 
resist  any  such  movement,  and  resist  it  the  more 
furiously  because  of  the  pledge  that  this  new  capitalist 
is  not  to  exploit  but  to  emancipate  the  workers,  de- 
liver them  from  the  odious  wage  system,  and  make 


Socialism  International  149 

them  the  owners  of  whatever  they  produce.  Private 
capital,  if  it  cannot  prevent  so  grave  a  catastrophe 
(to  itself),  will  flly  the  country  which,  without  con- 
cert with  other  countries,  enters  upon  such  a  course. 
Not  all  forms  of  capital  are  thus  mobile,  but  so  much 
of  it  is,  that  no  one  country  can  afford  to  bear  down 
upon  it  greatly  more  than  do  other  countries. 

Socialism,  therefore,  is  not  going  to  be  realized  — 
as  a  new  religion,  or  free  trade,  or  universal  suffrage, 
might  be  —  first  in  one  country,  and  later,  when  it 
has  been  fully  tried  and  approved  there,  adopted  else- 
where. On  account  of  the  nature  of  one  of  the  ele- 
ments it  has  to  deal  with,  and  its  relation  to  that 
element,  it  cannot  be  tested  experimentally  on  a  small 
scale  to  see  how  it  will  work.  To  find  that  out  ex- 
perientially  we  must  await  its  adoption,  so  manifestly 
approaching,  in  all  the  leading  countries. 

Moreover,  this  universality  is  in  the  nature  of  the 
movement  itself.  In  all  lands,  under  all  forms  of 
government,  the  social  question  is  the  same ;  the  same 
classes  exist,  arrayed  one  against  the  other;  the  same 
crushing  pressure  of  the  industrial  system  bears  upon 
the  wage-earners.  There  is,  therefore,  between  the 
working-men  of  different  countries  a  strong  bond  of 
sympathy,  coming  from  the  experience  of  like  hard- 
ships and  the  suffering  of  like  wrongs,  from  feeling 
the  same  longings  and  asserting  the  same  claims.  Go 
where  the  American  sociaHst  will  in  the  civilized 
world,  he  is  at  home  among  socialists ;  the  common 
sentiments  and  interests  that  link  him  with  them  are 
strong   enough   to   override   distinctions   of   language, 


150  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

nationality,  race,  and  give  the  sense  of  a  new  sort 
of  citizenship,  one  which  halts  at  no  frontier,  and 
whose  unfailing  watchword  is  Social  Justice.  A 
world-wide  fellowship  is  found  actually  to  subsist, 
resting  on  common  vital  interests  and  on  that  con- 
vergence of  thought  which  is  induced  by  similar 
experiences. 

THE    INTERNATIONAL 

In  1862  the  workmen  of  France  sent  a  deputation 
to  visit  the  International  Exhibition  at  London.  The 
members  in  the  course  of  their  stay  were  entertained 
one  evening  by  some  English  workmen,  and  views  on 
the  subjects  most  nearly  touching  them  all  were  freely 
exchanged.  Visitors  and  hosts,  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  traditional  enemies,  discovered  then  and  there 
that  they  were  closely  akin,  having  identical  interests, 
aims,  ideas ;  were  in  fact  so  drawn  together  that  the 
following  year  a  second  deputation  of  French  work- 
men came  over  to  the  Exhibition,  and  renewed  the 
happy  fellowship  with  their  British  brothers.  The 
result  was  the  calling  in  1864  of  a  great  meeting  of 
the  working-men  of  all  nations  to  be  held  in  London 
on  the  28th  of  September.  Of  that  meeting  the  out- 
come was  the  formation  of  The  International  Asso- 
ciation of  Working-men,  or,  as  it  came  to  be  called. 
The  International,  —  the  most  famed  society  and  the 
most  feared  that  was  ever  constituted  out  of  repre- 
sentatives of  different  peoples.  A  committee  of  fifty, 
which   included  Mazzini,  Karl  Marx,  and  other  no- 


Socialism  International  151 

tables,  was  selected  to  draw  up  a  constitution.  The 
work  finally  fell  to  Marx,  and  the  form  of  constitution 
produced  by  him  and  adopted  by  the  committee,  re- 
mains one  of  the  monuments  of  his  greatness.  It 
was  to  be  passed  upon  by  the  Association  the  follow- 
ing year.  To  emphasize  the  international  character 
of  the  body,  it  was  proposed  to  hold  the  meeting  on 
the  continent,  and  Brussels  was  chosen  as  the  place. 
But  the  Belgian  government  refused  its  permission, 
and  the  General  Council,  provisionally  created  by  the 
committee,  could  arrange  for  nothing  more  than  a 
conference  in  London.  The  first  congress  went  over 
to  the  following  year,  when,  republican  Switzerland 
making  no  objection,  it  was  held  at  Geneva  in  Sep- 
tember, 1866.  The  constitution  presented  by  Marx 
was  adopted,  and  the  working-men  of  the  world  had 
a  veritable  organization,  which  in  its  brief  career 
did  great  things  for  the  class  it  represented,  and 
made  a  tremendous  impression  upon  other  classes. 
Any  lack  of  harmony  in  the  membership  arose,  not 
from  racial  or  national  distinctions,  but  from  tactical 
preferences  due  to  the  different  circumstances  and 
conditions  in  which  their  socialism  had  come  to  con- 
sciousness and  to  the  differing  stages  of  its  develop- 
ment here  and  there.  As  far  as  nationality  was 
concerned,  the  more  unexpected  and  strange  the  dele- 
gation that  sought  admission,  the  heartier  the  wel- 
come accorded.  The  very  contrast  in  the  appearance 
of  the  members,  their  difference  of  dress,  of  color, 
and   of   speech,   gave   piquancy    and   strength   to   the 


152  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

assemblies;  was  evidence  that  here  at  last  was  a 
world-movement  set  on  foot  by  a  universal  need, 
making  toward  a  common  end,  the  importance  of 
which  was  attested  by  the  vigor  of  the  utterances 
in  many  tongues  —  heard  and  understood  as  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost;  by  the  breathless  attention  paid 
on  the  spot,  and,  in  differing  moods,  as  the  utter- 
ances went  reverberating  round  the  world.  Nothing 
of  the  kind  had  been  known  since  the  crumbling 
of  the  church  began  under  the  blows  of  the  Re- 
formers, Nor  has  any  such  series  of  manifestations 
accompanied,  to  this  day,  the  growth  of  any  other 
cause.  "  World's  Conventions  "  of  one  sort  and  an- 
other are  projected  from  time  to  time  by  this  and 
that  coterie,  but  they  all  lack  the  universality,  the 
vital  interest,  the  practical  significance,  characterizing 
the  annual  gatherings  of  the  old  International  and 
the  later  International  Congresses  of  the  socialists,  — 
are  rather  in  the  nature  of  curiosities,  attractions  de- 
vised to  accompany  and  help  out  an  Exposition; 
assemblies  like  the  Parliament  of  Religions,  arranged 
for  an  occasion,  having  no  deep,  general,  controlling 
interest,  the  participants  representing  nothing,  their 
performance  amounting  to  little  more  than  a  momen- 
tary truce  in  the  war  they  habitually  wage  upon  one 
another. 

If  a  convention  of  some  one  of  the  trades  —  that 
is,  of  the  operators,  not  the  operatives  —  gets  to- 
gether, the  aim  is  of  the  narrowest.  If  the  doors 
are  not  closed  and  you  venture  in,  you  listen  in  vain 
for  any  universal  sentiment,  any  word  having  a  human 


Socialism  International  153 

interest.  The  speakers  frankly  indicate  that  the  body 
is  actuated  by  purely  selfish  motives ;  more  concerned 
to  get  an  advantage,  no  matter  by  what  means,  over 
foreign  manufacturers,  than  to  improve  the  home 
product;  anxious  chiefly  to  keep  more  than  a  mini- 
mum of  the  profits  from  getting  into  the  hands  of 
the  real  producers.  Almost  all  associated  effort  in 
whatever  direction  is  restricted  to  the  country  where 
it  springs  up,  and  if  not  hostile,  is  indifferent  to  like 
effort  in  other  countries ;  or  if  it  extends  its  work 
benevolently  beyond  the  national  boundaries,  as  do 
the  foreign  missionary  societies,  the  object  is  not  to 
fraternize  with  but  to  destroy  any  form  of  religion 
that  may  exist  there.  But  socialism  is  nothing  if 
not  international.  It  has  no  aim  which  is  not  for 
the  benefit  alike  of  every  people  under  the  sun.  In 
all  lands  it  has  the  same  message,  and  it  draws  peo- 
ples the  most  diverse  into  fellowship  and  brotherhood. 
It  is  the  one  party  which  everywhere  stands  for  peace 
between  the  nations ;  in  which  attitude  it  is,  perhaps, 
not  altogether  disinterested,  for,  as  is  well  known, 
the  class  from  which  the  party  is  mainly  drawn,  that 
is,  the  working-men,  —  the  men  who  have  not  money 
to  hire  substitutes,  or  at  any  rate  could  only  hire 
others  of  their  class,  —  are  the  ones  who  must  make 
up  the  rank  and  file  of  armies,  face  the  music  of 
the  belching  guns,  strew  the  battlefields  with  their 
corpses.  But  that  is  not  all.  Socialists  have  come 
to  see  that  the  opposing  army  is  in  the  main  con- 
scripted from  the  same  class,  brothers  of  the  same 
fellowship  of  toil,  having  no  more  grounds  of  enmity 


154  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

than  themselves,  and  who,  Hke  themselves,  are  turned 
into  machines  to  stand  up  and  shoot  their  brothers, 
and  by  their  brothers  to  be  shot.  This  is  not  nice, 
and  socialists  are  saying  so.  When  less  numerous 
than  they  now  are  they  exerted  themselves  to  the 
utmost  to  prevent  the  Franco-Prussian  war ;  and 
they  are  at  present,  as  they  ever  have  been,  the  chief 
influence  in  every  land  making  for  peace.  It  is  their 
doctrine  that  takes  down  the  barriers  between  na- 
tions, and  reveals  to  astonished  mortals  the  fact  that 
being  born  on  one  side  of  an  arbitrary  line  is  under 
no  circumstances  adequate  ground  of  hostility  toward 
those  born  on  the  other  side. 

PATRIOTISM    BELITTLED    BY    EXAGGERATION 

When  one  marks  the  readiness  of  millions  to  for- 
sake the  land  of  their  birth  for  new,  strange  regions 
over  seas,  and  the  facility  with  which  they  make 
themselves  at  home  there,  the  apparent  heartiness  of 
the  fresh  fealty,  one  is  led  to  think  there  has  been 
some  exaggeration  of  the  attachment  people  really 
feel  for  their  native  land.  It  is  something,  but  it 
is  in  general  no  such  absorbing  passion  as  poets  and 
sophomoric  orators  have  told  us.  Herve  and  his  fol- 
lowing among  the  French  socialists  go  so  far  as  to 
denounce  patriotism  as  a  mistaken,  unnatural  senti- 
ment worked  up  by  designing  men,  dividing  the  world 
into  fragments  mutually  hostile,  precipitating  wars  in 
the  interest  of  dynasties  and  seekers  of  fortune.  But 
to  say  all  that,  is  to  take  a  distorted  view.     There  is 


Socialism  International  155 

a  patriotism  which  consists  perfectly  with  peace  and 
good-will  to  all  mankind.  Love  of  home  and  labor 
for  its  welfare,  love  of  one's  city,  province,  State,  and 
effort  to  embellish,  improve  and  upbuild  them,  —  what 
can  be  more  admirable?  We  cannot  spread  our  little 
selves  over  the  whole  world,  small  as  the  world  is 
getting  to  be;  the  service  we  render  tells,  if  at  all, 
only  on  a  very  moderate  area.  For  this  among  other 
reasons  the  smaller  communities,  the  realms  of 
antiquity  and  of  later  time  which  were  but  cities, 
have  been  able  to  boast  the  most  ardent  devotion  to 
their  interests  on  the  part  of  their  citizens.  Indeed 
the  advantage  to  a  nation  of  a  compact  and  limited 
territory  with  a  homogeneous  population  is  so  great 
that  in  Europe  it  largely  offsets  the  cost,  terrible  as 
it  has  been  and  is,  of  the  political  rivalry  which  has 
grown  out  of  the  division  and  subdivision  of  the 
continent.  Unfortunately  it  has  been  customary  to 
cite  examples  of  patriotism  almost  wholly  from  war 
times,  as  though  death-dealing  and  hell-making  were 
its  business  and  its  glorious  opportunity.  Looking 
at  the  subject  from  that  point  of  view,  no  wonder 
that  good  men  are  questioning,  are  denying,  in  fact^ 
the  right  of  patriotism  to  be  called  a  virtue.  There 
is,  however,  another  and  a  larger  outlook.  In  the 
service  of  one's  country  for  which  peace  affords  the 
unlimited  opportunity,  eminently  in  work  for  the 
preservation  of  peace,  is  a  patriotism  displayed  out- 
shining all  that  was  ever  done  in  war. 

And  it  is  right  here  that  socialism  seems  destined 


156  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  accomplish  one  of  its  chief  beneficences:  it  will 
so  knit  the  nations  together  in  the  bonds  of  a  common 
sympathy,  so  abolish  the  occasions  of  political  and 
commercial  strife,  that  war  will  be  no  more,  and 
preparation  for  war  no  longer  drain  the  resources 
of  the  world  in  time  of  peace.  Already  in  Germany 
where  socialism  is,  more  than  elsewhere,  a  political 
force,  it  raises  its  voice  against  a  dominant,  menacing 
militarism;  and  in  the  Reichstag,  where  sit  a  large 
body  of  Clericals  professing  to  honor  the  "  Prince  of 
Peace,"  it  is  the  only  party  that  attempts  to  stay 
the  barbaric  and  unholy  craze  which  is  steadily  im- 
poverishing the  nation  in  lavish  offerings  to  the  god 
of  war.  And  it  is  worth  noting  that  this  stand  for 
peace  is  taken  on  high,  humanitarian  grounds :  to 
save  people  from  the  horrors  of  war,  from  its  physical 
perils,  its  mental  agonies,  and  the  moral  debasement 
of  wholesale  murder.  The  waste  of  treasure  does 
not  so  directly  touch  the  working-men. 

This  attitude  of  the  party  is  well  illustrated  by 
an  incident  reported  of  the  Amsterdam  congress  of 
1904.  The  Russo-Japanese  war  was  at  its  height, 
and  the  two  countries  were  each  represented  by  a 
delegate.  As  the  venerable  Van  Kol  in  his  address 
of  welcome  to  the  city  spoke  of  this,  and  praised 
the  socialists  of  both  countries  for  being  represented 
there  under  the  circumstances,  and  for  their  moral 
courage  in  discountenancing  the  war  from  first  to 
last,  Katyama,  the  Japanese,  and  Plechanoff,  the 
Russian  delegate,  by  simultaneous  impulse  rose  and 
grasped    hands    in    such    cordial    fellowship    that    the 


Socialism  International  157 

whole  assembly  sprang  to  their  feet  and  broke  into 
thunders  of  applause,  acclaiming  in  many  tongues 
the  mute  eloquence  of  that  sign  of  good-will. 

UNIVERSALITY    OF    SOCIALIST    IDEAS 

The  socialist  party  differs  from  other  parties,  as 
socialism  differs  from  other  systems,  in  having  its 
quality  of  universality.  Here  in  America  at  present 
we  have  the  two  great  parties,  the  Republican  and 
the  Democratic;  but  one  is  as  republican,  as  demo- 
cratic, as  the  other.  The  names  as  applied  have  no 
distinguishing  significance.  As  little  have  these  parties 
any  universal  principles  linking  them  to  political 
parties  elsewhere  with  which  they  might  meet  and 
fraternize.  Their  platforms  have  at  most  only  a 
national  interest.  And  as  with  our  great  parties,  so 
with  the  Liberal  and  Conservative  or  Unionist  parties 
in  Great  Britain.  There  can  no  more  be  an  inter- 
national congress  of  Liberals  or  Conservatives  than 
there  can  be  one  of  Republicans  or  Democrats.  What- 
ever local  importance  any  distinctive  contention  of 
either  one  of  these  parties  may  have,  it  has  no 
universal  interest  drawing  together  for  its  advocacy 
or  discussion  delegated  representatives  of  many  na- 
tions. Their  contrast  with  socialism  in  this  respect 
is  most  marked.  Whatever  the  socialists  in  Ger- 
many, in  France,  in  Belgium,  in  Italy,  say  or  do 
is  of  equal  interest  to  socialists  in  every  land.  And 
this  for  the  reason  that  the  basic  principles  of  their 
system  have  been  drawn  from  the  experience  and 
the  wisdom  of  all  the  foremost  peoples.     They  are 


158  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

in  no  sense  provincial ;  they  have  originated  in  no 
one  country  exclusively.  Socialism  in  its  present  form 
is  often  considered  a  German  product  because  Marx 
was  a  German  by  birth.  But  Marx  was  early  exiled 
from  Germany ;  he  drew  his  socialistic  inspiration 
first  from  great  French  thinkers;  he  did  his  chief 
work  in  the  long  and  fruitful  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  London,  his  mind  saturated  with  English 
economic  history.  In  fact  this  system  of  thought 
as  it  stands  is  of  no  one  man  and  of  no  one  people; 
it  is  the  evolutionary  outcome  of  universal  human 
struggle,  the  manifold,  unified  contribution  of  many 
nationalities.  And,  as  it  is  a  world  product,  it 
concerns  the  whole  world.  As  Hunter  has  well  said : 
"  If  the  French  have  contributed  to  socialism  a  wealth 
of  ideas,  and  the  English  an  impressive  instance  of  the 
inevitable  antagonism  of  the  workers  to  capitalism,  the 
Germans  have  contributed  something  equally  impor- 
tant. They  have  combined  the  idea  and  the  practice. 
Without  the  instinctive  idealism  of  the  French,  or  the 
instinctive  practice  of  the  English,  they  are  both 
doctrinaire  and  practical.  The  Germans  were  the  first 
to  build  up  a  political  movement  of  the  workers 
founded  upon  the  doctrines  and  philosophy  of  social- 
ism. They  put  into  the  concrete  the  socialist  views  of 
Marx,  and  made  out  of  a  doctrine  a  powerful  living 
reality.  Combining  the  practical  and  the  abstract,  the 
methodical  and  scientific  Germans  have  given  an 
example  to  the  world  of  working-class  unity  and 
solidarity.  Without  French  thought,  Marx  could  not 
have  produced  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  modern 


Socialism  International  159 

socialism;  without  a  knowledge  of  English  labor 
organization  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  perceived  so 
clearly  the  capacity  of  the  working-class  for  organized 
and  consistent  action ;  and  without  the  gift  of  the  Ger- 
mans for  combining  the  idea  and  the  practice,  modern 
socialism  could  not  have  reached  its  present  position 
of  having  a  conscious  aim,  a  simple  and  precise 
doctrine,  and  an  organized  practical  movement."  * 
Hence  it  is  that  the  writings  of  socialists  in  one 
country  are  good  in  all  countries ;  and  anywhere, 
for  purposes  of  propaganda,  the  work  of  a  foreigner 
may  be  just  as  effective  as  the  work  of  a  native. 

INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESSES 

Under  these  circumstances  it  was  inevitable  that 
socialists  of  different  countries  should  get  in  the  way 
of  meeting  together  for  discussion  of  grave  questions, 
for  mutual  counsel  and  encouragement.  When  the 
stormy  times  of  the  old  International  had  passed, 
and  anarchism,  the  chief  disturbing  factor,  had  been 
discountenanced ;  when  enmities  provoked  by  the 
Franco-German  war  had  in  a  measure  subsided,  need 
was  felt  of  somehow  giving  expression  to  the  socialist 
universalism.  So  it  was  arranged  to  hold  a  general 
congress  at  Paris  in  1889.  Responses  to  the  invita- 
tion were  gratifying,  and  nearly  four  hundred  dele- 
gates, hailing  from  twenty  different  countries,  assem- 
bled in  the  city  ever-fair,  whose  battle-scars  were 
disappearing,   whose  young  trees   were  pushing  for- 


*  Socialists  at  Work,  p.  317. 


160  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ward  to  give  some  hint  of  the  grateful  shade  cast 
by  the  old  ones  sacrificed  in  extremity  for  fuel.  So 
profitable  was  the  gathering  that  a  second  congress 
was  held,  at  Brussels,  in  1891,  at  which  delegates 
appeared  not  only  from  every  European  country,  but 
also  from  America  and  from  Australia.  A  yet  more 
imposing  attendance  marked  the  third  congress,  which 
assembled  at  Zurich  in  1893.  The  fourth  international 
congress,  held  in  London  in  1896,  was  notable  for  a 
last  struggle  with  the  anarchists,  who  were  among  the 
delegates  in  some  force,  and  who  were  seeking  to 
divert  the  movement  into  violent  revolutionary  courses. 
After  full  deliberation  it  was  decided  by  overwhelm- 
ing vote  to  exclude  them  from  the  membership.  This 
took  out  a  very  lively,  if  also  a  troublesome,  element, 
and  was  one  occasion  perhaps,  of  the  lack  of  interest 
shown  in  the  next  congress,  held  in  1900.  But  the 
interest  fully  revived  at  the  sixth,  at  Amsterdam  in 
1904.  Indeed  this  meeting  outdid  in  significance  all 
that  went  before,  being  distinguished  by  the  great 
debate  over  an  issue  that  had  been  raised  by  a  group 
of  "  revisionists "  in  Germany,  whose  views  were 
favored  by  a  considerable  portion,  if  not  a  majority, 
of  the  party  in  France,  touching  the  propriety  of 
socialists  entering  into  alliances  with  other  political 
parties  and  accepting  (should  it  offer)  a  cabinet  offtce. 
This  remarkable  debate  has  already  been  spoken  of,  * 
and  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  here.  Suf^ce  it  to  say 
the   revisionists   were   worsted,   which   signified   little 

*  Chapter    III. 


Socialism  International  161 

for  Germany,  where  they  are  only  a  small  minority, 
but  much  for  France,  where  disagreement  over  the 
question  had  threatened  disruption  of  the  party. 
Never  in  political  history  was  deference  to  an  inter- 
national assembly,  clothed  with  only  moral  authority, 
so  pronounced  as  that  shown  by  the  French  delegates 
there  present  and  by  their  constituents  at  home  in 
accepting  the  verdict  of  the  congress  as  final  —  final 
at  any  rate  till^such  time  as  haply  some  fviture  congress 
shall  reverse  it. 

The  seventh  congress,  held  at  Stuttgart  in  1907, 
drew  a  larger  number  of  delegates  than  any  of  the 
preceding.  All  Europe,  several  of  the  American  re- 
publics, far  Australia,  Japan,  and  India  were  repre- 
sented —  in  all  some  thirty  nations.  The  delegates 
numbered  about  one  thousand,  among  them  many 
persons  holding  exalted  positions  at  home.  Ten  per 
cent,  of  them  were  members  of  one  or  another 
parliament.  There  were  professors,  authors,  artists; 
many  labor-leaders ;  all  men  of  independent  thinking. 
That  differences  on  some  questions  of  policy  developed 
in  such  a  large  and  heterogeneous  assembly  is  not 
surprising;  it  was  inevitable.  The  wonder  is  that 
there  could  be  got  together  from  every  continent  and 
from  the  isles  of  the  sea  such  a  body  for  deliberation 
over  matters  that  promised  no  one  of  them  a  cent, 
and  that  they  should  sit  in  conference  for  a  week. 
What  other  political  organizations  are  there  that  could 
bring  about  anything  of  the  kind?  But  differ  as 
they  might  on  secondary  matters,  these  socialists  of 
thirty   nationalities,   of    diverse   races,    of    all   classes 


162  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

and  all  colors  were  at  one  on  fundamental  principles, 
and  the  spectacle  of  such  a  body  of  unlike  person- 
alities fused  by  the  fire  of  a  common  great  devotion, 
aspiring,  toiling  for  the  realization  of  a  common 
hope,  must  have  seemed  worth  the  longest  journey 
to  the  spot. 

These  fraternal  assemblages  out  of  nations  armed 
to  the  teeth,  equipped  for  slaughter  with  all  that 
science  can  devise,  all  that  unlimited  resources  can 
procure,  are  a  lesson  for  the  present  and  a  prophecy 
of  things  to  come.  They  signally  show  how  work 
for  social  justice  overcomes  the  crude  instinctive  re- 
pugnance produced  in  us  by  every  sort  of  strangeness 
in  our  fellows,  and  substitutes  for  that  unthinking 
impulse  the  elevated  sentiment  of  reasoned  human 
brotherliness.  They  betoken  a  veritable  international 
parliament  which  in  the  —  let  us  hope  —  not  distant 
future  when  the  mutual  respect  of  the  peoples  shall 
have  further  grown,  when  implements  of  warfare 
shall  begin  to  look  barbaric  beside  the  implements  of 
industry,  and  along  all  frontiers  begin  to  give  place  to 
the  emblems  of  generous  service,  will  meet  every  year, 
or  sit  in  permanence,  now  here,  now  there,  and,  with 
the  authority  conferred  upon  it,  propose  to  the  various 
governments  such  legislation  touching  foreign  relations 
as  will  confirm  and  perpetuate  the  reign  of  peace. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PROSPECTS    OF    SOCIALISM    ON    MATERIALISTIC 
GROUNDS 

Marx  and  Engels  set  forth  a  theory  of  materialistic 
determination  in  history  which  is,  as  all  must  agree, 
a  notable  contribution  to  the  world's  thought.  They 
were  both  Germans,  and  Engels  himself,  referring 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  German  mind,  said : 
"  Whenever  any  one  of  us  expounds  what  he  con- 
siders a  new  doctrine,  he  has  first  to  elaborate  it  into 
an  all-comprising  system."  So  we  have  these  two 
eminently  philosophic  minds  undertaking  to  show  that 
all  movements  in  the  human  world,  political,  social, 
intellectual,  or  other,  are  determined  by  economic 
causes ;  that  is,  by  the  supply  of  food,  the  conditions 
of  labor,  the  mechanism  of  production  and  exchange. 
They  take  us  over  the  social  transitions  of  these  later 
centuries,  and  point  out  with  clearness  and  irresistible 
force  the  operation  of  these  causes  in  every  case. 
They  show  us  how  in  the  middle  ages  a  class  developed 
between  lord  and  lackey  which  by  sturdy  industry  and 
plodding  thrift  got  enough  to  eat  and  something  more, 
handicraftsmen  and  small  traders,  becoming  in  course 
of  time  powerful  enough  to  suppress  the  feudal  barons 
and  set  up  a  new  order  of  things.  Petty  were  the 
industries  in  those  days,  but  the  workers  had  a  distinct 
independence  which  their  successors  in  modern  times 


164  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

may  well  envy.  Production  went  on  slowly,  every- 
thing being  done  by  hand.  The  producers  worked 
generally  each  on  his  own  account,  the  mechanic,  the 
artisan,  owning  his  own  shop  and  tools,  doing,  with 
his  family  and  perhaps  an  apprentice,  his  own  work; 
the  farmer,  in  like  isolation,  tilling  his  own  glebe. 
Few  worked  for  wages,  as  it  was  usually  quite 
possible  for  a  workman  to  set  up  for  himself,  so 
insignificant  was  the  outlay.  In  towns  where  manu- 
facture was  stimulated  by  readier  exchange  the  shops 
were  larger,  a  master-workman  having  with  him  per- 
haps half-a-dozen  apprentices  and  journeymen  —  the 
guild  regulations  rigidly  restricted  the  number  — 
whose  employment  in  the  shop,  however,  if  more  than 
temporary,  commonly  assumed  a  form  of  co-operation. 
The  cases  where  men  worked  their  life  long  for  wages 
were  comparatively  rare,  so  that  no  great  class  of 
the  kind  came  into  existence.  The  mass  of  the  rural 
population  maintained  a  rude  but  independent  exist- 
ence in  isolated  families,  producing  substantially  all 
the  necessities  of  their  simple  life  by  their  own 
handiwork,  growing  their  own  edibles,  weaving  their 
own  cloth  from  the  wool  of  their  own  sheep,  making 
their  own  clothes,  and  even  the  implements  with  which 
they  did  their  work.  The  industries  of  the  cities  were 
but  extensions  and  specializations  of  the  same  method 
of  hand-work,  a  shop  taking  up  some  specific  branch 
of  production,  the  owner  obtaining  his  other  necessi- 
ties by  exchange.  Production  under  such  circum- 
stances was  of  course  very  limited  in  amount,   and 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  165 

equally  limited  was  demand  for  the  product.  The 
characteristic  feature  of  industry  throughout  that  long 
period,  contrasting  it  sharply  with  what  has  super- 
vened, was,  that  the  shop,  the  tools,  the  raw  material 
and  the  completed  product  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
worker,  were  his  undivided  property.  If  the  manu- 
facturer (the  word  in  that  day  had  only  its  strict 
etymological  sense)  hired  a  few  hands,  he  worked 
wath  them  at  the  same  bench,  and  they  could  when 
they  pleased  set  up  a  rival  shop.  He  had  as  little 
resemblance  to  the  modern  capitalist  as  an  acorn  has 
to  an  oak. 

INDUSTRIAL  EVOLUTION  IN  THE  LATTER  HALF  OF 
THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

Into  this  quiet,  humdrum,  circumscribed  world  of 
industry  came  the  machine,  ingeniously  contrived  to 
do,  and  with  astounding  rapidity,  what  had  ahvays 
before  been  laboriously  done  by  hand,  —  the  spinning- 
machine,  the  power-loom,  the  steam-hammer,  —  work- 
ing social  results  more  sweeping  than  were  ever  seen 
before.  The  cheaper,  more  efficient  mode  of  pro- 
duction soon  made  the  old  mode  obsolete,  with 
consequences  the  most  serious  to  the  hand-workers. 
The  machine  was  costly,  beyond  the  means  of  the 
individual  craftsman ;  besides,  it  could  not  be  profit- 
ably adapted  to  the  uses  of  a  small  shop.  For  its 
successful  application  there  had  to  be  a  great  factory, 
employing  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  hands.  It  com- 
pelled,   therefore,    a    change    from    individualized    to 


166  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

collective  industry ;  and  this  called  for  the  investment 
of  large  capital.  Had  governments  then  been  wise 
enough  to  take  the  matter  in  hand  in  the  interest 
of  the  toilers,  all  might  have  been  well ;  but  they 
were  busy  with  things  of  less  import.  Private  capital 
seized  upon  the  opportunity  to  multiply  itself ;  built 
the  mills,  filled  them  with  machinery,  stocked  them 
with  raw  material.  Thither  then  came  the  thousands 
of  petty  producers  whose  business  the  machine  had 
ruined,  glad  to  be  taken  in  at  any  price  as.  wage- 
earners  ;  renouncing  in  the  soreness  of  their  distress 
their  shops,  their  homes,  their  birthright  of  inde- 
pendence, for  a  mess  of  pottage.  As  the  factories 
multiplied,  the  applicants  for  employment  in  them 
multiplied,  and  much  more  rapidly,  greatly  aggravat- 
ing the  situation.  The  dispossessed  of  their  means 
of  livelihood  were  far  in  excess  of  the  needs  of  the 
factories,  as  one  hundred  hands  with  machines  sufficed 
for  the  work  that  thousands  did  in  the  old  way;  so 
there  was  left  over  in  reserve  a  large  force  of  needy, 
starving  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  who  in 
their  dire  extremity  became  competitors  for  the 
places  of  those  who  were  employed,  dragging  the 
rate  of  wages   down  yet  lower. 

Such  in  brief  were  the  circumstances  accompanying 
the  creation  of  a  practically  new  class,  the  proletariat, 
the  wage-earners ;  new,  because  down  to  that  epoch 
few  worked  for  wages,  and  they  generally  for  only 
a  part  of  the  time,  having  for  a  main  reliance  some- 
thing of  their  own  to  do. 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  167 

Thus  there  grew  up,  first  in  manufacturing  centers, 
a  great  class  wholly  dependent  on  the  capitalists,  and 
in  such  straits  as  to  be  compelled  to  accept  the  pay 
offered  them,  which  by  economic  law  was  the  least 
on  which  they  could  subsist.  The  oppression  to 
which  they  were  subjected,  the  intolerably  long  hours 
of  labor,  not  only  for  men,  but  for  women,  and  for 
children  of  tender  age  —  all  that  has  been  told  over 
and  over,  and  is  something  appalling  to  think  upon. 
Under  the  rule  of  free  competition  a  premium  was 
put  upon  inhumanity,  they  who  practiced  it  prosper- 
ing most.  The  kindliest  employer  could  shorten  the 
hours  and  lessen  the  pressure  only  at  a  financial  loss 
as  compared  with  his  rivals,  and  so  the  system  made 
cruel  taskmasters  of  good  men.  When  government 
was  asked  to  interfere,  the  pretense  was  set  up  that 
the  business  under  State  supervision  would  be  unable 
to  compete  with  foreign  manufacture  not  so  hampered. 
So  in  England,  though  the  great  manufacture  was 
yielding  the  capitalist  owners  an  enormous  profit,  they 
managed  to  block  for  forty  or  fifty  years  legislation 
intended  to  protect  the  operatives  from  outrageous 
oppression.  Through  all  that  time  the  economic  laws 
applying  to  the  situation  were  controlling,  and  all 
that  philanthropic  sentiment  could  say  or  do  went 
for  little.  Undeniably,  a  distinctly  material  thing,  a 
thing  of  iron  and  steel,  had  revolutionized  industry, 
created  a  new  class,  and  radically  changed  the  con- 
stitution of  society. 

It    was    an    evolution    accompanied    by    pain    and 


168  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

misery,  but  bringing  withal  immediate  results  of  vast 
importance,  leading  on  to  a  wonderful  mastery  of 
natural  forces  whose  subjection  to  human  uses  has, 
as  by  magic,  transformed  the  external  world ;  an 
evolution  working  blindly,  and  so  effecting  a  hap- 
hazard, one-sided  advance,  whose  mainspring,  being 
material,  makes  the  movement  itself  also  conspicu- 
ously materialistic.  The  change  from  individualized  to 
collective  industry,  taken  apart  from  the  then  dis- 
tressing circumstances,  was  a  great  step  forward ;  and, 
combined  with  the  use  of  machinery,  has  been  the 
means  of  multiplying  thousand-fold  the  world's  pro- 
ductive capability.  But  while  the  highest  human 
intelligence  has  been  applied  to  the  special  processes, 
the  general  drift  has  been  unintelligent,  abandoned 
to  the  motives  of  self-interest,  strewing  the  course 
of  a  gilded,  even  glorious,  progress  with  countless 
wrecks  of  humanity.  The  study  of  this  period  which 
began  so  recently  that  the  lives  of  some  of  us  reach 
back  over  the  greater  part  of  it,  may  be  made  ex- 
haustively with  reference  to  the  subject  in  hand,  every 
step  in  the  movement  discerned  and  pointed  out  with 
precision, 

Marx  has  brilliantly  shown  how  from  the  first 
massing  of  labor  under  capitalist  control  the  owner 
of  the  factory  has  appropriated  the  lion's  share  of 
the  product  of  the  operatives.  He  has  paid  them 
something,  to  be  sure,  but  it  has  been  the  least 
possible,  and  what  is  more,  the  amount  paid  them 
has  borne  no  slightest  relation  to  the  value  of  what 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  169 

they  have  produced.  They  who  under  the  previous 
order  of  things  themselves  owned  what  they  made, 
found  themselves  all  at  once  without  the  least  shadow 
of  interest  in  what  their  hands  fabricated.  The 
product,  swollen  to  the  utmost,  was  put  upon  the 
market,  became  a  commodity.  The  enormously 
increased  facilities  of  production,  when  once  this 
system  was  in  full  swing,  filled  to  repletion  the  store- 
houses, and  made  the  sale  of  the  goods  a  task  at 
times  rivaling  in  magnitude  the  work  of  production 
itself.  The  whole  world  had  to  be  ransacked  for 
markets,  governments  lending  their  assistance,  even 
waging  wars  to  open  avenues  of  trade.  But  when 
all  was  done  to  find  consumers,  the  zeal  of  the  mill- 
owners  to  swell  their  output,  and  so  their  income,  all 
unchecked  by  precise  knowledge  either  of  the  world's 
demand  or  of  its  supply,  would  overdo  the  business; 
whereupon  a  glut  in  the  market,  an  industrial  and 
financial  crisis  dropping  Hke  a  pall  over  the  land. 
Mills  would  close  down,  the  army  of  operatives  be 
left  with  nothing  to  do,  and  shortly  with  nothing 
to   eat. 

The  crisis  meant  disaster  to  employer  as  well  as 
to  the  people  employed,  and  often  swept  away  his 
fortune.  Its  comings  are  by  no  means  over,  though, 
like  some  of  the  comets,  it  has  an  irregular  period  — 
circumstance  which  only  adds  to  the  apprehension  it 
inspires.  It  is  recognized  as  a  kind  of  universal 
catastrophe,  to  be  avoided,  or  at  least  postponed,  at 
any  cost.     In  every  land  society  and  the   State  are 


170  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

always  more  or  less  concerned  about  it,  and  there 
is  a  general  scramble  of  the  producing  nations  for 
the  world's  markets  not  yet  monopolized,  and  by  hook 
or  by  crook  to  crowd  in  where  there  seems  to  be 
no  room. 

FURTHER    DEVELOPMENT    OF    CAPITALISM 

Meanwhile  machinery  is  perfected  more  and  more, 
steadily  approaching  the  ideal  of  working  automatic- 
ally, with  the  result  that  the  proportion  of  operatives 
to  output  is  getting  ever  less,  making  it  increasingly 
hard,  particularly  in  the  more  developed  countries, 
for  workmen  to  find  work.  So,  as  Marx  put  it, 
"  machinery  becomes  the  most  powerful  weapon  in 
the  war  of  capital  upon  the  working-class;  the  instru- 
ments of  labor  constantly  tear  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence out  of  the  hands  of  the  laborer;  the  very 
product  of  the  worker  is  turned  into  an  instrument 
for  his  subjugation."  This  means,  not  that  machinery 
is  a  bad  thing,  but  that  there  is  a  conflict  between 
the  social  interest  and  the  capitalistic  interest,  be- 
coming ever  more  intense,  more  deadly. 

A  phase  of  this  conflict  is  seen  in  the  fact  that, 
though  there  is  much  enforced  idleness  in  the  cities, 
arising  from  lack  of  enough  work  to  go  around,  the 
overwork  of  those  who  are  employed,  and  the  work  of 
little  children  where  law  permits  it,  go  on  as  ruth- 
lessly as  ever.  The  thirst  for  profits,  and  large 
profits,  is  the  capitalist's  ruling  passion,  not  to  be 
thwarted  by  any  merely  humane  sentiment.  The  army 
of  the  unemployed  and  the  reserve  of  strike-breakers 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  171 

—  these  out  of  ill-will  toward  their  own  class  and 
those  against  their  will  —  are  his  recourse  and  his 
defense. 

The  competition  of  laborers  with  one  another  proves 
a  very  difficult  thing  to  prevent,  so  multitudinous  are 
they,  so  pressing  often  are  their  needs.  The  labor- 
unions,  to  be  perfectly  efficient,  need  to  include  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  workers,  and  to  this 
preponderance  they  have  not  been  able  to  come.  On 
the  other  hand  the  competition  of  capitalists  with  one 
another,  depended  on  by  the  old  economists  as  a 
means  of  keeping  prices  down  to  a  reasonable  figure, 
and  fortunes  from  becoming  excessively  large,  has 
been  found,  in  the  most  important  lines  of  business 
at  least,  easy  enough  to  abolish,  and  that,  too,  by  a 
proceeding  which  tremendously  augments  the  capital- 
ists' power  over  the  people  and  over  the  govern- 
ment —  proceeding  which  is  a  further  venture  in 
collectivity,  that  idea  in  its  complete  application  so 
dear  to  the  socialist  heart.  They  combine  and  form 
the  trust.  As  at  the  inception  of  the  present  indus- 
trial epoch  they  took  advantage  of  circumstances  to 
force  a  collectivity  of  labor  in  their  own  interest,  now 
at  the  last,  in  the  same  interest,  we  see  adopted  on 
an  immense  scale  collectivity  of  capital. 

The  trust,  in  any  line  of  production  or  exchange, 
destroys  competition  with  itself,  first,  and  so  long 
as  the  laws  permit,  by  direct  assault  upon  the  com- 
paratively insignificant  individual  rival,  invading  his 
territory,  and  by  extreme  abasement  of  prices 
snatching  his  business  out  of  his  hands  until  he  is 


172  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

left  with  only  the  choice  between  ruin  and  absorption 
in  the  monopoly;  or,  such  a  course  becoming  illegal, 
accomplishes  the  same  end  more  deliberately  and  with 
entire  honor  through  the  advantage  which  greatly 
superior  resources  give.  Somewhat  as  the  factory 
system  at  its  inception  stood  to  the  hand-worker  in  his 
little  shop,  stands  now  the  trust  to  the  individual 
capitalist;  it  tends  steadily  and  strongly  to  force  him 
into  its  connection,  albeit  on  better  terms  than  the 
hand-workers  were  received  into  the  factories. 

THE  EXPECTED  OUTCOME  THROUGH  THE  OPERATION 
OF  ECONOMIC  LAW 

All  this  development  of  the  capitalistic  system  and 
its  relation  to  labor,  Engels  traced  through  the  century 
and  a  quarter  of  its  reign,  and  expounded  on  the 
theory  "  that  the  production  of  the  means  to  support 
liuman  life  and,  next  to  production,  the  exchange  of 
things  produced,  is  the  basis  of  all  social  structure; 
that  in  every  society  that  has  appeared  in  history, 
the  manner  in  which  wealth  is  distributed  and  society 
divided  into  classes  or  orders,  is  dependent  on  what 
is  produced,  how  it  is  produced,  and  how  the  products 
are  exchanged  "  ;  and  therefore  that  "  the  final  causes 
of  all  social  changes  are  to  be  sought,  not  in  men's 
trains,  not  in  man's  better  insight  into  eternal  truth 
and  justice,  but  in  changes  in  the  modes  of  produc- 
tion and  exchange."  That  this  theory  of  the  all- 
importance  of  economic  causes  —  in  other  statements 
of  it  expressly  made  to  overtop  political,  religious, 
and   all   other   springs   of   action   affecting   society  — 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  173 

has  been  pushed  too  far  and  worked  too  hard,  is 
now  coming  to  be  seen.  *  As  these  economic  causes 
have  operated  and  in  the  measure  that  they  have 
dominated,  they  will  continue  to  operate  and  dominate. 
Having  traced  capitalistic  development  to  its  culmina- 
tion in  the  trusts,  the  Marxists  have  held  that  the 
process  would  not  be  arrested  at  this  point,  but 
necessarily  and  within  a  brief  period  go  on  to  a  yet 
more  complete  and  unitary  concentration  in  the  hands 
of  the  State,  remodeled  to  represent  industrially  the 
whole  people.  Engels  thought  he  saw  this  consum- 
mation in  the  near  future,  and  says  with  emphasis 
and  as  though  the  fact  were  here  present  :  "  The 
proletariat  seizes  political  power  and  turns  the  means 
of  production  into  State  property!'  Apparently  some- 
thing was  left  out  of  the  calculation,  for,  as  in  the 
case  of  other  predictions  of  the  end  of  an  existing 
order  of  things,  the  event  does  not  come  off  —  shows 
no  sign  of  coming  off  in  our  day;  believers  mark 
with  sighing  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  promise,  and 


*  Thus  Professor  Anton  Menger  of  Vienna :  "  It  is  wholly 
arbitrary  in  Marx  and  the  Marxists  to  see  in  religion  and 
in  the  State  only  the  effects  of  economic  conditions.  .  .  .  Re- 
ligion in  ancient  times  played  everywhere  a  decisive  role,  and 
to-day  the  State  exercises  on  economy  an  influence  infinitely 
greater  than  the  inverse  influence  of  economy  upon  the 
State.  In  the  nineteenth  century  the  jealousy  of  the  houses 
of  Hapsburg,  of  Hohenzollern,  of  Bonaparte,  that  is  to  say, 
a  factor  purely  political,  was,  in  the  making  of  history,  a 
cause  infinitely  more  active  than  all  the  transformations  in 
the  economic  life  effected  in  the  same  period."  The  Socialist 
State,  Book  IV,  chap.  1.  See  also,  for  a  searching  discus- 
sion, Bernstein's  Die   Voraussetzungen  des  Sozialismus. 


174  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

something  like  the  old  murmur  is  heard  that  "  from 
the  day  that  the  fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  continue 
as  they  were."  Readers  of  Engels  may  recall  a 
simile  he  used  to  illustrate  the  doom  which  on 
economic  grounds  inevitably  awaits  capitalistic  pro- 
duction, —  a  simile  whose  unintentional  aptness  might 
give  it  place  among  the  curiosities  of  literature. 
After  showing  that  this  mode  of  production  moves 
in  a  "  vicious  circle,"  he  declares  the  circle  is  gradu- 
ally narrowing,  "  the  movement  becomes  more  and 
more  a  spiral,  and  must  come  to  an  end,  like  the 
movement  of  the  planets,  by  collision  with  the 
center."  *  The  inconclusiveness  and  the  remoteness 
in  time  are  both  there.  Perhaps  the  earth  and  other 
planets  are  destined  to  fall  into  the  sun,  but  such  a 
wind-up  at  best  is  only  a  dubious  hypothesis ;  and 
at  any  rate  the  collapse  of  the  solar  system  in  that 
manner  is  so  incalculably  remote  that  the  hypothesis 
is  negligible  so  far  as  human  hopes  or  fears  are 
concerned.  Of  course  the  writer  was  far  from 
intending  to  suggest  likeness  in  either  of  these  respects. 
They  who  originated  the  doctrine  of  economic 
determinism  in  history  had  no  misgivings  about  its 
entire  conclusiveness,  nor,  probably,  have  the  great 
body  of  socialists  at  the  present  time.  That  such  a 
master-mind  as  Marx  should,  while  less  unambiguous 
than  his  associate  in  the  statement  of  it  and  of  its 
all-inclusive  scope,  have  built  it  into  his  system,  has 
carried  weight  which  makes  any  reconsideration  even 


*  Socialism,  p.  60. 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  175 

now  temerarious.  But  the  most  unquestioning  fol- 
lower cannot  deny  that  reasoning  from  it  led  Marx 
wrong  in  two  expectations :  the  time  within  which, 
and  the  means  wherewith,  sociaHsm  would  achieve  its 
triumph.  Marx  was  an  evolutionist  in  philosophy, 
and  an  implication  of  the  evolutionary  philosophy  is : 
in  all  things  slow  development  from  stage  to  stage. 
This  principle,  in  his  more  solid  work,  he  recognizes, 
putting  stress  on  the  labor,  long  and  patient,  to  be 
done  in  preparing  the  people  for  the  great  social 
change,  in  arousing  them  to  call  for  it,  since  only  at 
their  call  it  can  come.  No  sudden  upheaval  is  to 
usher  in  the  new  order,  nor  is  it  to  be  looked  for  as 
the  gift  of  some  benevolent  monarch  who  may  chance 
to  become  indoctrinated  with  socialism ;  it  will  come 
only  when  the  body  of  the  people  are  educated  to 
see  that  it  is  desirable.  But  in  moments  of  ardor  he 
set  all  too  short  a  period  for  this  work  of  preparation ; 
as  when,  in  1850,  turning  away  from  the  anarchists 
who  wanted  to  call  the  working-men  immediately  to 
arms,  and  chiding  them  for  saying,  "  we  ought  to  get 
into  power  at  once,  or  else  give  up  the  struggle,"  he 
declared  that  the  proper  thing  to  say  to  the  working 
people  is  plainly  this :  "  You  will  have  to  go  through 
fifteen,  twenty,  fifty  years  of  civil  wars  and  wars  be- 
tween nations,  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  changing 
existing  conditions,  but  to  change  yourselves  and  make 
yourselves  worthy  of  political  power."  That  was 
sixty  years  ago,  and  who  will  say  that  the  educa- 
tion of  the  working-man  for  the  responsibilities  of 
government  is  more  than  begun?     There  have  been 


176  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

wars  enough  in  these  sixty  years,  but  it  is  not  by  wars 
that  this  education  proceeds.  Marx  Hved  in  a  period 
of  revolutions,  and  they  had  made  a  deep  impression 
on  his  spirit,  leading  him  to  an  undue  estimate  of 
what  is  to  be  accomplished  by  them,  keeping  him  on 
the  lookout  for  some  crisis,  some  great  war,  which 
should  afford  the  opportunity  for  a  successful  up- 
rising of  the  proletariat.  He  magnified  the  place  that 
revolution  has  in  social  evolution,  and  believed  that 
when  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  inauguration  of  the 
new  social  regime,  the  change  will  be  effected  by  a 
flying  to  arms  of  the  working  classes.  The  dominat- 
ing influence  of  this  great  intelligence  upon  his  party 
has  kept  this  notion  of  the  way  the  new  social  order 
is  to  be  set  up  longer  in  currency  than  it  should  have 
been.  Only  recently  has  the  appeal  been  made  with 
much  effect  from  Marx  as  he  spoke  half  a  century 
ago  to  Marx  as  he  might  be  expected  to  speak  had 
he  seen  what  steps  toward  socialism  have  been  peace- 
fully taken  since  his  day,  and  the  ever-widening 
opportunity  for  further  triumphs  by  means  of  uni- 
versal suffrage,  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press, 
now  enjoyed  in  most  civilized  countries. 

GROUNDS    OF    THE    SOCIALIST    HOPE    MUST    BE 
RECONSIDERED 

Of  the  materialistic  bases  of  socialist  expectation, 
that  of  a  general  armed  uprising  of  the  workmen  is 
to  be  absolutely  retrenched.  Bloody  revolution  as  a 
means  of  establishing  social  justice  became  superflu- 
ous  when  and  where  constitutional  government  and 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  \77 

universal  suffrage  arrived.  For  lands  under  auto- 
cratic power  another  rule  may  still  hold,  but  for  us 
the  cause  that  cannot  be  carried  by  our  ballots  has 
nothing  to  gain  from  our  bullets ;  too  few  with  the 
weapon  that  speaks,  we  should  be  too  few  with  the 
weapon  that  slays.  And  the  capital  advantage  of  the 
contest  at  the  polls  is,  that  he  who  fights,  even  with- 
out running  away  lives  to  fight  another  day  —  is  not 
destroyed  though  defeated.  So  long,  then,  as  defeat 
is  certain  or  probable,  the  fighting  had  best  be  done 
at  the  polls.  And  when  we  shall  actually  have  be- 
come a  majority,  it  will  be  gratuitous  folly  to  take 
up  arms,  as  the  day  will  have  been  won.  If  there 
is  an  armed  uprising  then,  it  will  be  on  the  part  of 
our  opponents,  put  on  the  defensive  and  resorting  to 
desperate  measures  to  save  a  cause  already  lost. 

It  has  been  abundantly  shown  that  the  present 
industrial  system  does  not  run  smoothly,  that  it 
involves  perpetual  conflict  of  classes,  and  as  a  sys- 
tem is  in  violent  self-contradiction.  The  materialist 
founders  of  scientific  socialism  were  not  the  first  to 
think  that  an  order  of  things  forever  evolving  strife, 
harboring  in  itself  undeniable  contradictions,  —  that  a 
rule,  a  kingdom,  be  it  the  Devil's  own,  divided  against 
itself,  must  go  down.  But  in  considering  when  and 
how  it  was  to  go  down,  they  did  not  take  into  account 
the  tangled  complexity  of  influences  operating  on  the 
human  world,  the  nature  of  that  world  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  world  of  things,  which  make  a 
social  outcome  at  any  time  infinitely  more  obscure 
and  difficult  of  prevision  than  is  a  chemical  reaction 


178  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

or  an  astronomical  event.  While  social  conditions 
have  changed  in  the  last  half-century,  they  have  not 
changed  with  the  expected  rapidity  nor  in  the 
expected  manner.  There  has  been  no  sudden  and 
general  upheaval.  The  scientific  socialist  is  obliged, 
therefore,  to  reconsider  the  situation  and  make  fresh 
conjectures  of  the  ways  and  means  of  future 
advances.  "  The  time  was  not  ripe  for  socialism," 
says  Vail,  "  until  the  capitalist  system  had  taken  on 
its  logical  expression  in  the  trust  and  syndicate. 
Until  this  stage  no  social  or  political  upheaval  could 
accomplish  more  than  to  upset  thrones  and  behead 
monarchs.  Such  a  revolution  would  avail  nothing 
for  us.  We  need  to  appreciate  this  truth  when,  as 
in  these  days,  so  many  quack  remedies  are  proposed, 
and  among  them  the  delusion  that  the  cause  of  the 
proletariat  could  be  helped  by  a  grand  physical 
revolution  or  outbreak  of  anarchy."  *  Still  Vail 
concurs  in  the  judgment  of  Marx  that  the  proposed 
change  from  capitalism  to  the  co-operative  common- 
wealth will  be  easier  of  accomplishment  than  was 
the  earlier  passage  to  the  present  social  state.  The 
strong  assertion  of  Marx  as  to  the  greater  difficulty 
of  the  previous  step  is  couched  in  the  following  words : 
"  The  transformation  of  scattered  private  property 
arising  from  individual  labor  into  capitalist  private 
property  is,  naturally,  a  process  incomparably  more 
protracted,  violent,  and  difficult  than  the  transforma- 
tion of  capitalist  private  property,  already  practically 


*  Principles  of  Scientific  Socialism,  p.  31. 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  179 

resting  on  socialized  production,  into  socialized  prop- 
erty. In  the  former  case  we  had  the  expropriation 
of  the  mass  of  the  people  by  a  few  usurpers;  in  the 
latter  we  have  the  expropriation  of  a  few  usurpers 
by  the  mass  of  the  people."  *  But  in  all  honesty  what 
must  one  now  say  to  this?  One  must  say,  in  the 
first  place,  that  the  passage  from  scattered  private 
property  to  capitalism  was  never  taken  by  deliberate 
action  of  a  parliament  —  the  work  was  done  before 
the  bourgeois  French  revolutionary  Assembly  took 
advantage  of  the  situation ;  nor  by  a  body  of 
capitalists  sitting  in  solemn  conclave;  it  was  set  on 
foot  and  is  being  brought  to  a  conclusion,  as  Marx 
was  the  first  clearly  to  show,  by  an  insensate  thing, 
by  the  machine,  thrusting  itself  into  the  arena  of 
production  and  revolutionizing  industry.  A  machine 
is  not  morally  responsible,  and  takes  no  measure  of 
the  difficulty  of  what  it  accomplishes  or  of  the  hard 
and  cruel  results  incidental  to  its  operations.  A  buzz- 
saw  is  indifferent  to  what  it  cuts,  whether  a  man's 
hand  or  a  stick  of  wood.  Therefore,  in  the  next 
place,  it  must  be  said  that,  to  make  the  cases  parallel, 
we  must  have  another  insensate  thing  coming  in  upon 
the  great  scene  of  human  activity,  disrupting  the 
present  order  of  society,  expropriating  the  capitalists, 
making  a  new  world.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  is 
expected  to  show  itself.  The  stroke  is  to  be  delivered 
by  a  deliberative  assembly  of  the  people,  by  the 
legislative   body   of   the   nation ;    and   who   does   not 


*  Capital,  p.  487. 


180  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

see  that  here  is  a  difference?  Nd  such  body,  except 
as  a  war-measure,  ever  resorts  to  a  sweeping  act 
of  confiscation;  how,  then,  is  the  legal  expropriation 
of  even  a  few  capitalists  going  to  be  effected?  It 
can  never  be  done  outright  by  act  of  Congress.  It 
can  be  done  only  by  some  gradual  process,  and  the 
only  effective  procedure  yet  suggested  which  does  not 
present  insuperable  objections  is  a  form  of  inheritance- 
tax  such  as  has  been  outlined  in  Chapter  IV.  It  gives 
a  look  of  unreality,  of  sheer  Utopianism,  to  our  move- 
ment to  go  on  talking  about  a  consummation  involving 
enormous  practical  difficulties,  as  though  it  were  to 
come  about  as  matter  of  course  and  by  a  kind  of 
fatality ;  to  magisterially  announce  an  impending, 
unprecedented  revolution,  with  no  other  hint  of  the 
course  to  be  taken  to  get  over  or  around  the  more 
than  arctic  obstacles  between  us  and  that  pole  of 
destiny,  than  the  occlusion  (if  possible)  of  the  way 
of  anarchy. 

THE    IN'CREASING    INTENSITY    OF    THE    CLASS-CONFLICT 

If  the  materialistic  indices  point  only  in  a  general 
way  or  not  at  all  to  the  direct  means  by  which  a  new 
social  order  is  to  be  ushered  in,  they  leave  no  doubt 
that  a  change  of  some  sort  must  come.  Anything 
that  works  so  roughly,  so  wastefully,  so  disastrously 
as  the  present  arrangements  cannot  permanently  con- 
tinue. The  war  of  classes,  which  is  the  direct  out- 
come, is  too  fierce,  too  destructive  at  times  both  of 
life  and  property  to  be  tolerated  in  any  society  not 


I 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  181 

bent  on  self-immolation.  This  conflict  cannot  be  per- 
mitted to  go  on  forever ;  but  under  capitalism  there 
seems  no  possibility  of  its  being  appeased.  Ameliora- 
tion of  the  condition  of  the  workers  —  plan  always 
the  first  to  suggest  itself  —  does  not  do  it.  Truthfully, 
if  boastfully,  we  say  that  labor  in  the  United  States 
is  better  off  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  better 
paid,  better  fed,  better  housed,  has  shorter  hours, 
more  independence;  and  yet  nowhere  are  strikes  so 
common,  so  destructive,  labor  troubles  so  incessant, 
the  class-conflict  so  open,  undisguised,  in  such  instant 
readiness  for  an  outbreak.  Hard-headed,  unsympa- 
thetic employers  say,  and  say  with  truth,  that  capital 
by  knuckling  to  the  demands  of  labor  has  encouraged 
the  making  of  further  demands,  and  so  got  itself  into 
more  trouble ;  that  a  false  route  has  been  taken  in 
granting  concessions,  thinking  that  they  pave  the  way 
to  peace.  The  laborer  in  general  is  refractory  in  the 
measure  that  he  has  been  accorded  independence. 
For  patient  obedience  and  untiring,  slavish  fidelity,  for 
utter  obliviousness  of  all  but  the  master's  interests,  a 
man  needs  to  be  short  of  ability  to  extricate  himself 
from  a  situation,  and  to  feel  to  the  marrow  of  his 
bones  that  holding  on  to  it  is  for  him  and  his  the 
sole  means  of  living.  The  nearer  he  is  kept  to  the 
starvation  line  the  less  troul)le  he  will  give.  The  rule, 
of  course,  does  not  apply  with  rigor  in  a  country  like 
this,  where  labor,  having  acquired  some  independence, 
has  formed  unions,  and,  having  become  accustomed  to 
a  degree  of  self-assertion,   has  to  be  handled   more 


182  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

gingerly;  and  it  is  not  to  be  disproved  by  comparing 
one  industrial  establishment  with  another,  and  show- 
ing how  in  such  and  such  places  generous,  fraternal 
treatment  of  employes  has  been  responded  to  by  a 
more  faithful  service.  The  rule  is  to  be  tested  by 
comparing  country  with  country.  By  this  method 
the  observer  will  see  how  the  subjugation  of  the 
worker  and  his  incorporation  in  a  practically  servile 
class,  the  imposition  of  rigorous  exactions,  and  the 
minimizing  of  his  treatment,  that  is  to  say,  his  pay 
and  the  social  recognition  he  gets  from  his  superiors, 
has  made  him  supple,  self-effacing,  submissive,  obedi- 
ent to  his  master  "  in  fear  and  trembling." 

Consequently  improving  the  condition  of  the 
laborer  intensifies  the  class-struggle ;  and  as  this  im- 
provement is  inseparable  from  civilization  and 
characteristic  of  the  best  societies,  inevitably  as  a 
country  advances  into  the  light  its  industries  will 
become  more  disturbed,  class-hostility  more  acute, 
until  finally  a  situation  is  reached  altogether  beyond 
endurance.  The  United  States  and  France  are  the 
two  countries  which  by  their  oft-recurring,  spasmodic 
labor-troubles  give  this  paradoxical  evidence  of 
leading  the  world's  civilization.  What  stronger  proof 
can  be  desired  of  the  mal-adaptation  of  capitalism  to 
modern  life,  its  rank  disaccord  with  the  best  tendencies 
of  our  times?  It  sets  up  enormous  social  inequalities 
which  violate  the  essence  of  democracy,  whose  first 
principle  is  equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law; 
and  this,  together  with  its  exploiting  the  proletariat, 
makes   it   a   tremendously   disturbing   force   in   every 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  183 

republic,  most  of  all  in  our  own,  where  it  has  reached 
a  phenomenal  development.  It  assumes  a  lordly 
attitude  in  all  controversies,  persistently  refusing  to 
submit  questions  in  dispute  to  arbitration,  and  while 
notoriously  availing  itself  of  the  advantages  that  come 
from  combination,  seeks  unblushingly  and  at  what- 
ever cost  to  break  down  every  combination  of  work- 
ing-men. In  essence  hostilities  are  perpetual.  As  with 
nations,  so  with  classes,  war  is  the  rule,  the  intervals 
of  peace  only  an  armed  truce,  a  breathing-space  for 
piling  up  munitions  preparatory  to  a  fiercer  combat. 
Governments,  absorbed  in  building  battle-ships,  make 
a  feint  of  doing  something  to  mollify  class-animosities 
as  they  reach  the  point  of  outbreak,  but,  in  the  fore- 
most countries,  wealth  is  so  dominating  that  any 
radical  measures  trenching  upon  its  autocratic  power 
can  hardly  be  taken,  and  from  what  is  done  com- 
paratively little  benefit  accrues.  * 

The  class-struggle  is  unbalanced,  one  side  greatly 
superior  in  numbers  but  feeble  in  "  the  sinews  of 
warfare "  and  lacking  in  organization ;  the  other 
composed  of  a  few  men  of  boundless  resources,  who, 
while  given  to  preying  on  one  another,  stand  ready 
to  join  hands  in  holding  down  the  poor  man.  The 
advantage  of  numbers  is  more  than  neutralized  by  the 
other    considerations.      The    disciplined    few    always 


*  Dr.  C.  W.  Eliot  has  called  attention  to  the  Canadian  law 
bearing  on  labor  disputes  as  in  principle  worthy  of  general 
adoption ;  but  Canada  is  but  an  unimportant  colony,  and  we, 
the  greatest,  richest  nation  on  earth,  are  not  likely  to  look 
that  way  for  a  lesson  in  the  art  of  governing. 


184  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

overmatch  the  poorly  equipped,  unorganized  many. 
And  clear  as  rings,  and  long  as  has  rung,  the  call, 
"Proletarians,  get  together!"  vital  to  the  movement 
as  is  that  idea,  —  soul  of  any  real  success,  —  the  ears 
to  which  it  was  addressed  are  not  yet  generally  open 
to  it.  The  labor-leaders  can  marshal  only  a  fraction 
of  the  laborers,  and  them  only  for  immediate  personal 
ends  visibly  within  an  arm's  length,  —  increase  of 
wages,  shortening  of  hours,  regulation  of  industry,  — 
while  the  infinitely  more  important  matter  of  political 
control  is  in  most  countries  almost  wholly  ignored  by 
the  great  body  of  working-men.  Even  in  Germany 
less  than  one-third  of  them  are  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Social  Democratic  party.  In  the  United  States  we 
have  only  the  beginnings  of  a  political  organization. 
The  French  socialists  muster  less  than  one  million 
votes,  and  the  English  are  fewer  still.  Certainly  we 
take  pride  in  this  showing,  moderate  as  it  is,  knowing 
the  effort  it  has  cost,  what  earnest,  devoted  labor  of 
men  and  women  of  this  and  the  preceding  generation 
whose  very  names  chime  as  matin-bells  of  triumph 
in  our  ears.  But  the  results  achieved  thus  far  are 
sadly  short  of  what  the  leaders  of  fifty  years  ago 
expected.  They  figured  that  by  the  simple  operation 
of  economic  law  there  would  come,  along  with  the 
development  and  concentration  of  capital  so  evidently 
proceeding,  a  political  union  of  the  proletariat  en- 
abling them  by  sheer  force  of  numbers  to  overcome  all 
opposition  and  set  up  the  socialist  State.  Evidently 
those  leaders  left  some  important  factor  or  factors 
out  of  their  calculations. 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  185 

SOCIAL    MOVEMENTS    NOT    TO    BE    CREDITED    TO 
ECONOMIC    CAUSES    ALONE 

Beyond  a  doubt  economic  laws  have  much  to  do  in 
determining  the  course  of  history,  but  not  that  term, 
nor  any  other  designating  merely  exterior  natural 
causes,  exhausts  the  moving  forces  on  the  human 
stage,  as  extreme  materialists  would  have  us  think. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  in  modern  times  was  not 
brought  about  because  slavery  was  unprofitable  to  the 
slaveholders,  or  because  the  slaves,  misused,  flew  to 
arms,  or  because  their  food  was  shortened,  or  for 
any  economic  reason  whatever.  That  great  achieve- 
ment was  primarily  the  work  of  agitators  who  made 
appeal  to  the  sentiments  of  humanity  and  justice, 
aroused  the  moral  sense  of  the  nations,  stirred  to 
heroic  action  States  only  remotely  implicated  in  the 
evil,  provoking  them  to  great  sacrifices  and  unresting 
struggle  till  the  end  was  reached.  So  was  it  with 
factory  legislation  in  England  for  the  protection  of 
operatives  treated  with  a  worse  inhumanity  than  were 
American  slaves ;  if  it  took  long,  it  was  finally  carried 
well  forward  by  the  moral  appeal  of  the  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury  and  his  helpers.  And  fully  explicable  on 
economic  principles  alone  as  may  be  the  hard  dealings 
by  which  our  great  capitalists  have  made  their 
accumulations,  no  sane  person  would  attempt  on  the 
same  principles  to  account  for  the  open-handed 
generosity  some  of  them"  are  showing  in  the  dis- 
bursement of  their  millions  and  hundreds  of  millions.  * 


*  Engels    himself    here    and    there    betrayed    a    reliance    on 


186  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Seligman,  who  has  made  the  clearest  presentation 
of  the  subject,  contends  that  the  terms  "  historical 
materialism "  and  "  economic  determinism "  are,  to 
say  the  least,  unfortunate,  as  seeming  to  omit  from 
the  reckoning  causes  which  certainly  do  play  a  con- 
siderable part  in  social  development.  He  would 
substitute  for  these  "  the  economic  interpretation  of 
history  "  as  more  precise  and  not  open  to  misconcep- 
tion. "  Economic  interpretation  of  history  means," 
he  says,  "  not  that  the  economic  relations  exert  an 
exclusive  influence,  but  that  they  exert  a  preponderant 
influence  in  shaping  the  progress  of  society."  In 
the  closing  chapter  of  his  book  under  this  title  he 
makes  this  summation :  "  As  a  philosophical  doctrine 
of  universal  validity,  the  theory  of  '  historical  material- 
ism '  can  no  longer  be  successfully  defended.  But  in 
the  narrower  sense  of  economic  interpretation  of 
history  —  in  the  sense,  namely,  that  the  economic 
factor  has  been  of  the  utmost  importance  in  history, 


other  than  his  one  sole  determining  cause  of  all  phenomena 
in  the  social  world.  In  discussing  the  monopolies  already 
being  set  up  by  the  trusts  in  1890,  he  declared :  "  No  nation 
will  put  up  with  production  conducted  by  trusts ;  with  so 
barefaced  an  exploitation  of  the  community  by  a  small  band 
of  dividend-mongers."  In  his  letters,  written  toward  the  end 
of  his  life,  he  considerably  modified  his  presentation  of  the 
doctrine,  admitting  that  Marx  and  he  were  "  partly  respon- 
sible for  the  fact  that  the  younger  men  have  sometimes  laid 
more  stress  on  the  economic  side  than  it  deserves."  Com- 
menting on  these  letters  Professor  Seligman  says :  "  When 
we  read  the  latest  exposition  of  their  views  by  one  of  the 
founders  themselves,  it  almost  seems  as  if  the  whole  theory 
of  economic  interpretation  had  been  thrown  overboard."  — 
The  Economic  Interpretation   of  History,  p.   63. 


Prospects  on  Materialistic  Grounds  187 

and  that  the  historical  factor  must  be  reckoned  with 
in  economics  —  the  theory  has  been,  and  still  is,  of 
considerable  significance."  It  is,  perhaps,  not  too 
much  to  think  that  the  founders  themselves,  had  they 
survived  to  this  time  in  the  full  possession  of  their 
powers,  would  concede  as  much,  for  they  were  not 
above  revising  their  ideas  and  confessing  that  time 
had   required   a   restatement. 

That  we  have  sound  reason  to  expect  the  capitalistic 
system  to  go  to  pieces  from  the  sheer  process  of  its 
own  development,  and  fall  away,  like  the  skin  of  a 
snake,  may  well  be  questioned.  The  very  movements 
that  have  been  taken  by  one  party  for  symptoms  of 
coming  overthrow  are  to  another  party  evidences  of 
resistless  might,  of  lusty  growth  and  reinvigoration. 
Our  wishes  are  often  the  springs  of  our  thought, 
and  so  the  sources  of  self-delusion.  What  reason,  for 
instance,  have  we  to  think  that  the  concentration  of 
capital  in  trusts  is  going  to  make  deliverance  from  its 
domination  any  easier  or  any  surer?  Never  has  com- 
bination weakened  the  forces  that  combine.  The 
persons  interested  are  no  fewer  for  combining,  and 
their  power  for  good  or  ill  is  infallibly  multiplied  by 
more  than  the  number  in  the  coalition.  And  is  it  not 
chimerical  to  suppose  lurking  in  economic  law  a  sly 
malice  luring  men  to  their  ruin,  a  Machiavelian  animus 
in  the  nature  of  things  able  to  blind  the  shrewdest 
class  that  has  ever  lived  and  press  them  headlong  to 
certain  destruction? 

In  the  future  as  heretofore,  economic  law  will  bring 
about  social  modifications  beyond  a  doubt ;  but  as  no 


188  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

:siich  material  discoveries  and  inventions  as  inaugu- 
rated the  present  industrial  epoch  are  henceforth  to 
Idc  looked  for,  the  social  changes  due  to  material 
causes  are  likely  to  be  much  less  striking,  and  of  an 
•evolutionary  rather  than  a  revolutionary  character. 
The  words  of  Bernstein  here  are  to  be  pondered : 

"  To  whatever  degree  other  forces,  besides  the 
purely  economic,  influence  the  life  of  society,  just  so 
much  more  also  does  the  sway  of  what,  in  an 
objective  sense,  we  call  historic  necessity  change.  In 
modern  society  we  have  to  distinguish  in  this  respect 
two  great  streams.  On  the  one  side  appears  an  in- 
creasing insight  into  the  laws  of  evolution,  and 
notably  of  economic  evolution.  With  this  knowledge 
^oes  hand  in  hand,  partly  as  its  cause,  partly  again 
as  its  effect,  an  increasing  capability  of  directing  the 
economic  evolution.  The  economic  natural  force,  like 
the  physical,  changes  from  the  ruler  of  mankind  to 
the  servant  according  as  its  nature  is  recognized. 
.  .  .  The  common  interest  gains  in  power  to  an 
increasing  extent  as  opposed  to  private  interest,  and 
the  elementary  sway  of  economic  forces  ceases 
according  to  the  degree  in  which  this  is  the  case,  and 
in  all  places  where  this  is  the  case.  Their  develop- 
ment is  anticipated  and  is  therefore  accomplished  all 
the  more  quickly  and  easily.  Individuals  and  whole 
nations  thus  withdraw  an  ever  greater  part  of  their 
lives  from  the  influence  of  a  necessity  compelling 
them,   without  or  against  their  will."  * 


*  Evolutionary  Socialism,  pp.    14,   15. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SUPERFLUITIES  AND   EXCRESCENCES 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  the  outlook  for 
socialism  from  another  point  of  view,  it  will  be  well 
to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  futilities  of  the  subject 
to  which  the  minds  of  friends  and  foes  alike  are  apt 
to  run.  Only  the  hopelessly  ignorant  in  this  field  any 
longer  charge  us  with  proposing  to  confiscate  the 
world's  wealth  and  distribute  it  equally  among  all  the 
people,  or  with  propagating  doctrines  destructive  of 
family  life,  or  with  representing  only  another  and 
milder  form  of  anarchy ;  therefore  aspersions  of  that 
sort,  too  absurd  for  notice,  need  not  delay  us.  That 
we  do  propose  to  have  the  State,  acting  for  the  whole 
people,  acquire  by  degrees  and  as  rapidly  as  shall 
prove  practicable,  possession  of  the  means  of  industry, 
is  true,  and  on  the  strength  of  this  some  well-inten- 
tioned persons  go  on  to  assert  that  socialism  is  —  in 
the  end  at  any  rate  —  to  do  away  with  private  property 
altogether.  Just  what  may  "  in  the  end  "  be  deemed 
expedient  in  this  matter,  as  in  many  other  matters, 
we  are  hardly  competent  to  say ;  the  people  who  shall 
live  in  that  somewhat  remote  time  will,  presumably, 
be  quite  as  wise  as  we ;  they  will  have  the  situation 
immediately  before  them,  and  having  behind  them 
years  on  years  of  rich  experience  in  the  work  of 
making  a  new  world,  —  as  we  have  not,  —  will  be  able 


190  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

without  any  suggestion  from  us  to  arrange  their  own 
affairs. 

Our  part  is  greatly  more  restricted ;  it  is  simply 
to  take  things  as  they  are  and  attempt  to  modify 
them  in  such  manner  that  they  may  tend  to  con- 
form to  our  ideal.  This  is  modest,  but  it  is  service- 
able, it  is  sane.  Nothing  so  disconcerts  our  public, 
nothing  so  blocks  our  movement  as  a  suggestion  that 
we  are  going  to  turn  things  topsyturvy,  that  a  social 
revolution  is  about  to  break  out  carrying  all  before 
it  with  such  instant  and  vertiginous  sweep  that  the 
world  of  to-morrow  will  not  know  itself  as  the  world 
of  to-day.  It  is  not  the  dreamer  but  the  worker, 
the  dealer  with  realities,  who  actually  shapes  things; 
and  he  commences  with  things  as  he  finds  them.  Not 
everything  that  is  is  bad.  In  fact  a  great  part  of 
what  has  been  wrought  into  the  present  social  con- 
stitution is  good,  a  veritable  heritage  of  blessing 
which  we  would  not  do  away  with  if  we  could,  — 
and  this  is  fortunate,  for  we  could  not  if  we  would. 
As  a  rule  the  laws  and  customs  which  have  been 
adopted  by  civilized  societies  are  such  as  have  proved 
advantageous  to  the  people.  The  exceptions  prove 
the  rule  in  that  they  are  few,  not  that  they  are  un- 
important; they  are  such  arrangements  as  are  favor- 
able to  one  class  and  noxious  to  another.  Reformers 
seek  to  abolish  these  one  by  one.  Socialists,  more 
radical,  strike  at  a  system;  but  the  fall  of  a  system 
is  not  to  carry  with  it  everything  that  co-exists  there- 
with, the  State,  the  family,  the  church,  the  school, 
and  the  rest  of  our  variously  valued  institutions.    We 


I 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  191 

are  not  to  make  table  rasce  and  go  back  to  primitive 
communism.  We  recognize  that  among  the  things 
that  stand  are  incalculable  vahies ;  that  progress  is 
the  conspicuous  fact  in  history ;  that,  while  terrible 
mistakes  have  been  made,  with  resulting  serious 
lapses,  the  forward  movement  has  prevailed,  a  cumu- 
lating balance  has  been  struck  from  time  to  time 
showing  the  world  wiser  and  infinitely  wealthier;  and 
we  know  that  any  future  gain  must  found  on  the 
gains  already  made.  The  institution  of  private  prop- 
erty, slowly  and  painfully  superseding  the  primitive 
communism,  was  one  of  these  forward  movements, 
instinctively  taken  by  certain  advancing  tribes  in  pre- 
historic times ;  and  it  is  not,  as  the  Utopian  socialists 
thought,  to  be  retraced.  Its  abuses  are  to  be  checked ; 
and  its  abuses  at  their  worst  are  seen  in  the  growth 
of  private  fortunes  far  beyond  what  by  any  estimate 
can  be  taken  as  one  man's  rightful  share  of  the 
earth  and  its  treasures,  —  monuments  of  boundless 
greed,  hateful  and  sinister  when  considered  as  in  the 
main  built  up  out  of  other  men's  earnings,  and  of 
necessity  counterbalanced  by  wide  stretches  of  pov- 
erty somewhere. 

Private  property  can  harmoniously  co-exist  with 
collective  property,  and  we  need  not  suppose  it  barred 
under  the  new  order  of  things  except  in  so  far  as 
the  means  of  production  are  concerned.  One  will 
have  one's  own  house  to  live  in  while  one  lives,  which 
is  as  long  as  one  has  it  now.  One  will  own  similarly 
the  furnishings  of  the  house,  and  absolutely  the  fuel 
that  warms  it  in  winter  and  the  refrigerating  material 


192  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

that  cools  it  in  summer,  together  with  whatever  one 
needs  to  clothe  oneself  withal  and  to  consume  for  the 
nourishment  of  one's  body  and  for  the  edification  of 
one's  soul ;  which  is  more  than  half  the  world  have 
now.  All  consumable  articles  of  every  description 
and  the  use  of  all  useful  articles  of  production  will 
remain   private   property. 

But  the  socialist  State  has  not  yet  arrived,  and  we 
have  here  to  do  with  the  waiting  period,  which  we 
may  as  well  admit  is  not  likely  to  be  very  brief. 
While  our  patience  is  not  perhaps  called  on  to  match 
that  of  Rodbertus,  who  set  at  five  hundred  years  the 
time  in  which  his  not  impractical  socialist  scheme 
might  probably  be  got  into  operation,  beyond  reason- 
able doubt  all  of  us  now  living  will  have  finished  our 
course  before  what  we  dream  of  is  realized,  so  that 
for  our  activities  we  have  only  to  consider  the  world 
under  the  existing  social  order.  In  this  light,  what 
is  to  be  the  socialist's  attitude  in  regard  to  private 
property?  What  projects  of  law  bearing  on  the  sub- 
ject will  he  support?  He  will  favor  any  fair  meas- 
ure which  will  tend  to  check  the  growth  of  vast 
fortunes,  and  the  concomitant  growth  of  poverty 
which  is  in  some  sort,  and  of  necessity,  a  conse- 
quence, since  obviously  if  one  man  has  a  thousand 
or  a  million  times  more  than  a  fair  share  of  the 
world's  wealth,  some  others  somewhere  must  have 
less  than  a  fair  share  —  so  much  less  as  to  have 
nothing  at  all.  On  the  other  hand  the  socialist  will 
favor  all  honorable  means  of  stimulating  industry  and 
increasing  its   rewards,  of   encouraging  thrift  in  the 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  <  193 

great  class  of  the  disinherited  and  the  destitute ;  and 
he  will  regard  with  satisfaction  the  multiplication  of 
moderate  fortunes.  The  love  of  money  has  been  called 
"  the  root  of  all  evil,"  and  money  is  thrice  branded 
"filthy  lucre"  in  Holy  Writ;  but,  just  and  proper 
as  reproaches  of  the  stuff  in  excess  may  be,  as  much 
or  worse  is  to  be  said  against  the  total  laclc  of  it. 
Preaching  its  abolition  has  a  morbid,  unwelcome 
sound,  recalling  to  many  a  listener  exceedingly  pain- 
ful experiences. 

SOME    PRACTICAL    QUESTIONS 

How  the  economic  problems  of  a  medium  of  ex- 
change, of  interest  and  rent  will  be  settled  in  the 
new  world  which  is  sometime  to  be,  is  an  interesting 
subject  of  reflection  for  learned  professors,  but  one 
that  the  rest  of  us  need  not  greatly  concern  ourselves 
about.  It  can  safely  be  left  to  that  future  genera- 
tion destined  to  have  practically  to  do  with  it.  For 
the  present  and  through  all  the  preparatory  period 
before  us,  the  form  of  currency  to  which  the  world 
is  accustomed  will  best  serve  the  purposes  of  ex- 
change. Useless  now  to  speculate  about  "  labor- 
notes,"  or  other  hypothetical  substitute  for  money. 

There  can  be  no  question  but  that  rent  in  some 
form  will  subsist  in  all  time,  as  the  land,  even  after 
the  State  has  acquired  possession,  cannot  be  left  to 
the  free  occupation  of  whoever  may  squat  upon  it, 
without  working  grave  injustice,  land  being  of  all 
degrees  of  desirability.  To  insure  equal  opportunity, 
rent  will  be  exacted,  graduated  in  amount  according 


194  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  location,  soil,  and  other  considerations  that  give 
value;  freed,  to  be  sure,  from  the  speculative  fea- 
ture now  so  disturbing,  and  greatly  modified  by  the 
inevitable  change  of  business  methods.  Moreover, 
the  State  is  not  going  at  one  stroke  to  possess  itself 
of  all  the  land ;  its  position  of  unique  landlord  will 
be  reached  by  degrees,  giving  time  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  vast  system  of  administration  requisite, 
time  to  acquire  skill  in  sharp  competition  with  pri- 
vate owners,  whose  interests  of  course  will  be  adverse 
to  any  reduction  of  rents.  * 

So  long  as  private  ownership  of  the  means  of 
production  subsists,  and  it  is  likely  to  hold  on  in  a 
decreasing  extent  long  after  collective  ownership  be- 
gins to  be  instituted,  money  will  continue  to  draw 
interest,  have  a  use-value.  The  rate  will  decline, 
as  it  is  now  declining,  and  more  markedly  since  the 
fever  of  speculation  must  subside. 

A  supreme  advantage  of  the  gradual  realization 
of  the  plan  of  collective  or  State  ownership  of  the 
means  of  production,  will  be  that  it  provides  for  the 
possibility  of  there  being  —  as  our  opponents  are 
positively  asserting  there  are  —  some  lines  of  industry 
that  can  best  be  conducted  as  at  present.  Experi- 
ment, not  too  costly,  would  soon  settle  the  question 
in  every  case.     Wherever  individual  direction  was  not 


*  Doubtless  the  means  by  which  the  State  will  facilitate 
its  acquisition  of  the  land,  once  the  policy  of  collective 
ownership  is  adopted,  will  be  the  imposition  of  a  steadily 
increasing  tax,  resulting  at  length  in  annulling  the  advantage 
of   private   ownership. 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  195 

improved  upon  by  collective  direction,  it  could  be 
retained,  continually  held  back  from  any  abuse  of  its 
privilege  by  the  possibility  of  the  State  entering  the 
lists  as  a  competitor.  It  may  well  be,  too,  that  col- 
lective management  would  profit  in  efficiency  by  the 
competition  of  privately  conducted  industries  super- 
vised by  impartial  State  authorities.  The  controlling 
idea  in  the  coming  changes  will  be,  not  to  set  up  a 
new  order,  cut  and  dried  in  every  detail,  but  in  all 
things  to  take  the  course  that  will  give  the  best 
results.  Not  until  State  ownership  and  conduct  of 
all  sorts  of  affairs  has  actually  demonstrated  its  su- 
periority in  each  particular  branch,  will  the  State 
finally  take  over  all  sorts  of  affairs;  and  in  the 
eventuality  of  its  being  proved  that  some  things  can 
on  the  whole  better  be  done  as  at  present,  we  shall 
see,  or  rather  our  posterity  will  see,  continuing  in  the 
new  world,  some  features  of  the  world  with  which 
we  are  familiar. 

THE    SOCIALIST    IDEAL    NOT    YET    TO    BE    RIGOROUSLY 
DEFINED 

The  part  of  wisdom  is  to  hold  our  ideal  somewhat 
loosely,  open  to  emendation  from  day  to  day,  and 
notably  from  epoch  to  epoch ;  to  lay  down  no  finished 
scheme  of  a  paradise  here  below,  —  to  keep  our  faces 
set  to  the  light;  working  to-day  for  what  seems  best 
to-day,  and  again  to-morrow  for  w^hat  bhall  then  seem 
best.  It  may  well  be  thought  that  any  fixed  concep- 
tion, descending  to  particulars,  of  the  socialist  State, 
is  an  obstacle  to  social  progress.     The  chances   are 


196  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

decidedly  that  that  conception,  whose  ever  it  may  be, 
will  not  be  realized.  Men  specially  versed  in  the  sub- 
ject have  miscalculated  the  course  of  social  evolution 
for  any  immediately  following  twenty-five  years, 
Marx  declaring  that  by  economic  necessity  the  num- 
ber of  the  very  rich  must  become  an  ever  smaller,  of 
the  very  poor  an  ever  greater,  fraction  of  the  whole 
people ;  whereas  the  facts  of  the  case,  contemptuous 
of  his  economic  necessity,  show  the  contrary ;  —  how 
then  shall  we  set  much  store  by  the  finished  picture 
they  paint  us  of  society  when  the  next  great  change 
shall  have  come,  be  it  in  this,  the  next,  or  the  follow- 
ing century?  One  thing  we  may  aver  with  confi- 
dence: the  future  society  will  not  be  a  new  creation; 
it  will  grow  as  naturally  out  of  present  society  as 
man  out  of  boy,  and  in  reaching  out  after  better 
things  will  not  fail  to  keep  every  good  thing  the  past 
has  had.  In  social  movements  as  in  other  recon- 
struction, the  work  of  salvage  is  by  no  means  to  be 
neglected.  The  coming  age  is  the  child  of  the  age 
which  is  passing. 

The  expectation  of  entire  relief  from  burdensome 
toil  under  the  socialist  regime  is  an  excrescence  which 
in  some  minds  has  attained  a  surprising  growth.  Thus 
the  amiable  Prince  Kropotkin  would  have  us  think 
that  the  facilities  for  getting  an  honest  living  will  be 
so  improved  in  the  good  time  coming  that  a  man  will 
be  able  by  thirty  hours'  work  to  provide  satisfactory 
subsistence  for  a  family  of  five  for  a  whole  year. 
The  cost  of  their  clothing  is  to  be  met  by  fifty  hours' 
work  of   the   same  happy   man.     One   hundred   and 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  197 

fifty  hours,  annually  put  in,  will  suffice  to  cover  orig- 
inal cost  and  repairs  of  house  and  furniture  suitable 
for  a  gentleman  in  the  Golden  Age.  All  told,  to 
maintain  a  family  of  five  persons  the  head  of  the 
house  will  have  to  work  only  one  hour  and  forty 
minutes  a  day !  *  But,  really,  to  get  rid  of  work 
is  not  such  a  very  laudable  ambition.  To  be  sure, 
some  of  us,  hand-workers  and  brain-workers,  are 
driven  through  too  many  hours,  but  an  eight-hour 
day  can  hardly  be  considered  excessively  long.  Most 
persons,  working  by  the  hour  or  working  for  them- 
selves, would  be  inclined  to  put  in  more  time  than 
that.  Many  professional  men  and  students  volun- 
tarily work  ten,  twelve,  even  fourteen  hours,  with 
the  drawback  that  the  weariness  their  work  brings  on, 
instead  of  inducing  sleep  and  so  a  regularly  recurring 
recuperation,  often  "  gets  on  the  nerves  "  and  makes 
the  night  another  eight  hours'  work,  more  or  less 
unavailing,  to  get  repose.  Under  socialism  there 
would  be  decidedly  more  equal  distribution  of  labor; 
not  only  would  a  lot  of  people,  now  idle,  have  some- 
thing to  do,  but  several  times  as  many  more  whose 
lives  are  spent  in  waiting  on  the  idle  would  be  released 
from  that  occupation  to  take  up  their  part  of  the 
world's  useful  work,  with  the  result  that  there  would 
be  a  greatly  increased  amount  of  socially  profitable 
work  done,  —  a  vastly  more  important  desideratum 
than  the  shortening  of  hours.  As  the  advent  of 
mechanical  inventions  in  the  industries  multiplied  pro- 


*Tlie  Conquest  of  Bread,  p.  119f. 


198  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

duction  rather  than  lightened  toil,  so  the  effect  of 
coming  social  changes  for  the  better  is  likely  to  be 
seen  more  in  augmentation  of  the  world's  products, 
diffusion  of  the  comforts,  the  refinements,  the  ele- 
gances of  life,  than  in  any  lessened  expenditure  of 
effort.  There  will  be  some  further  shortening  of  the 
hours  of  labor ;  but  the  main  point  is  that  there  will 
be  increase  of  production,  carrying  comforts,  and 
more  than  comforts,  to  all  homes ;  this  enrichment 
of  life  resulting  from  the  further  perfecting  of 
implements,  from  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
hands  engaged,  and  from  the  fact  that  with  the 
workers  the  motive  will  no  longer  be  operative  to 
do  as  little  and  to  be  as  long  about  it  as  possible. 
Remuneration  in  the  measure  of  service  actually 
rendered,  will  be  the  rule  in  the  Co-operative  Com- 
monwealth. 

COMPOSITION    OF    THE    SOCIALIST    PARTY 

Unfortunately,  but  perhaps  unavoidably,  the  view 
has  widely  obtained  that  the  socialist  party  is  ex- 
clusively and  of  necessity  a  working-men's  party.  Its 
founders  were  nothing  of  the  kind,  nor  are  all  of 
its  leaders  even  now;  but  as  the  working-men  are 
the  ones  whose  interests  are  to  be  directly  furthered 
by  the  movement,  and  as  they  are  everywhere  the 
most  numerous  class,  the  propaganda  has  been  chiefly 
carried  on  among  them.  Though  the  results  of  this 
propaganda  have  been  more  moderate  than  might 
have  been  expected,  enough  has  been  accomplished 
to  give  some  basis  for  the  feeling  inside  and  outside 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  199 

of  the  movement  that  this  is  a  class-party,  by  rights 
exclusively  made  up  of  wage-earners,  taking  the  term 
in  its  narrowest  sense.  In  a  little  wider  sense  pro- 
fessional men  —  physicians,  clergymen,  journalists, 
teachers,  lecturers,  even  lawyers  —  are  wage-earners, 
as  are  more  obviously  all  salaried  clerks  and  officials ; 
but  it  happens  that  the  class-feeling  separates  the 
proletariat  from  these  as  a  body,  almost  as  sharply 
as  from  the  capitalists,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
Marx  and  Lassalle  and  Liebknecht  and  Engels  and 
Jaures  and  Anatole  France  and  Ruskin  and  William 
Morris,  not  to  mention  as  many  more  of  the  foremost 
lights  of  socialism,  must  be  counted  in  one  or  another 
of  these  categories  of  "  scholars  and  gentlemen."  In 
the  nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  rare  indeed,  phe- 
nomenon of  irrepressible  genius,  that  a  man  comes 
from  a  life  of  common  toil  to  a  commanding  place 
in  any  field  of  wide  activity ;  and  therefore,  for  the 
good  of  the  cause,  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  party 
continue  to  recruit  some  of  its  leaders  from  the  circles 
of  the  learned  and  influential,  whence  have  come  so 
many  of  its  honored  names.  This  will  the  more  surely 
occur  the  more  the  workers  and  their  sympathizers 
fraternize;  and  the  importance  of  it  can  hardly  be 
overstated.  No  otherwise,  in  fact,  can  any  great 
success  be  achieved.  For  an  exclusively  proletarian 
party  confronts  (with  or  without  reason)  prejudices 
of  the  strongest  in  the  great  body  of  people  con- 
stituting the  present  ruling  classes  —  prejudices  which 
must  somehow  be  abated.  These  people  will  never  tire 
of  holding  up  such  a  party  in  the  lurid  light  of  the 


200  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Reign  of  Terror,  and  citing  against  it  the  horrors 
of  the  Commune  of  1871,  all  oblivious  of  the  equal 
or  greater  atrocities  of  the  conquerors.  And  there 
is  another  consideration  more  vital  than  the  opinion 
these  people  may  have  of  us.  Apprehension  of  rash- 
nesses that  might  be  committed  by  an  element  of  the 
working-class,  should  they  come  to  power,  probably 
deters  a  considerable  part  of  that  very  class  from 
joining  in  the  socialist  movement,  the  half -conscious 
judgment  being  that  the  circumstances  are  such  as 
"  make  us  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have  than  fly 
to  others  that  we  know  not  of."  An  immense  gain 
all  around  would  come  from  banishing  in  theory  and 
in  practice  the  idea  that  this  is  a  purely  working-man's 
party. 

ECONOMIC    DETERMINISM 

Of  all  the  superfluities  that  have  been  connected 
with  the  modern  socialist  movement  the  philosophy 
of  materialism  is  the  most  notable,  the  most  persistent, 
and  the  most  damaging.  That  the  leaders  of  an 
agitation  which  first  of  all  was  to  be  political,  and 
whose  appeal  is  in  the  main  to  an  untutored  class, 
should  have  laid  down  as  fundamental  a  "  theory  of 
the  universe  "  debated  from  time  immemorial  by  the 
academicians,  and  withal  having  no  more  to  do  with 
the  essential  principles  of  socialism  than  Calvinism 
has  with  democracy,  is  explicable  only  as  an  idiosyn- 
crasy of  the  German  mind,  which  never  rests  till  it 
finds,  or  at  least  asserts,  a  profoundly-underlying 
philosophic  basis  for  whatever  it  undertakes  to  build. 


Superfluities  and  Excrescences  201 

And  even  this  explains  nothing  more  than  the  leaders' 
habit  of  authenticating  to  themselves  their  convic- 
tions ;  it  leaves  in  the  dark  the  singular  procedure 
of  resting  a  political  programme  addressed  to  the 
unlearned  upon  a  speculative  system  notoriously  in 
dispute  among  those  most  competent  to  pass  upon  it, 
and  hopelessly  beyond  the  depth  of  the  rest  of  us. 

Of  course  it  will  be  said  that  on  this  philosophy 
founds  the  economic  determinism  of  history,  and  so 
the  whole  Marxist  presentation  of  socialism ;  but, 
even  so,  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  makes  the 
presentation  academic,  not  popular.  Where  is  the 
call  to  action  in  a  revolution  or  a  reform  whose 
manifesto  omits  all  ethical  motives,  and  distinctly 
makes  every  result  depend,  as  a  friend  has  forcibly 
put  it,  "  upon  a  precise  and  accurately  defined  law 
of  evolution  which  is  as  inflexible  as  cast-iron "  ? 
Whether  such  a  law  can  be  traced  and  shown  to  act 
independently  of  mental  convictions  and  moral  con- 
siderations (of  which  by  the  theory  it  is  the  sole 
generating  cause),  so  turning  the  social  world  into 
an  automaton,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  in  grave 
doubt.  Evidence  one  way  and  the  other  is  drawn  from 
statistics,  on  the  finality  of  which,  and  particularly  on 
the  superfluity  of  the  Marxist  contention,  the  judg- 
ment of  Professor  Ely,  whose  friendliness  to  socialism 
gives  weight  of  fairness  to  his  verdict,  is  of  interest. 
He  says:  "Probably  there  is  no  sufficient  statistical 
record  in  existence  to  enable  us  either  to  prove  or 
disprove  the  Marxist  law  of  social  evolution.  But 
socialism  does  not  depend  upon  this  law.     If  it  could 


202  Import  ayid  Outlook  of  Sociaiism 

be  completely  refuted  to-morrow,  in  such  manner  that 
every-  one  would  have  to  admit  its  refutation,  socialism 
would  not  be  weakened  thereby,  except,  perhaps, 
temporarily."  * 

Beyond  a  doubt  as  time  goes  on  we  shall  hear  less 
of  non-essentials,  of  side-issues,  and  of  Utopian 
extravagances.  Already  the  contentions  of  socialism 
are  visibly  narrowing  down  to  the  indispensable 
elements,  the  vital  principles  that  are  of  universal 
application  and  within  the  purview  of  all.  The 
appeal  gets  urgent,  preponderant,  vivified  with  senti- 
ment that  moves  and  controls  the  human  world, 
sentiment  that  must  be  enlisted  ere  there  can  be  any 
social  change  for  the  better.  Whatever  economic  laws 
apply  will  operate  without  our  supervision,  but  we 
who  are  to  act  and  to  lead  must  have  an  inward  and 
conscious  determination,  some  strong  conviction  of 
truth  and  right,  some  mighty  moral  impulse  which 
will  not  let  us  rest  till  our  task  is  done. 


*  Socialism  and  Social  Reform,  p.  177. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PROSPECTS  OF  SOCIALISM  OX  MOR-\L  GROUNDS 

Proudhon's  audacious  charge,  "  Private  propert}'  is 
theft,"  while  not  justified  in  its  length  and  breadth, 
has  a  limited  application  which  must  be  frankly 
admitted.  Land  titles  in  ever}-  country-  are  based, 
not  ver}-  far  back,  on  nothing  better  than  brute  force; 
armed  invaders  drove  out  the  earlier  occupants,  or 
kings  rewarded  their  favorites  with  the  confiscated 
estates  of  political  or  religious  foes,  —  proceedings 
whose  only  show  of  extenuation  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  title  of  the  dispossessed,  traced  back  in  turn.  v\-ould 
prove  to  rest  on  a  similar  dubious  basis.  Xobody 
anywhere  owns  any  land  that  was  not  sometime 
acquired  by  violence  as  unmitigated  as  that  of  the 
highwayman.  But  all  this  belongs  to  the  history-  of 
other  days.  The  offenders  are  beyond  the  reach  of 
correction,  the  outraged  beyond  the  reach  of  indemnity'. 
The  ■■  cloud  "  on  the  title  can  only  be  pointed  to  as 
affording  a  precedent  i^such  as  it  is)  for  another 
expropriation  to  be  made,  though  in  no  personal 
interest  and  by  wholly  different  measures.  Let  us 
then  come  at  once  to  present-day  affairs,  and  ask 
whether  private  propert}-  in  land  is  now  chargeable 
with  anvthing  in  the  nature  of  theft. 


204  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

UNRIGHTEOUS    APPROPRIATION    OF    VALUES 

What  gives  value  to  land?  Not  richness  of  soil 
alone,  or  purity  of  water,  or  pleasantness  of  situation 
or  of  climate.  All  these  features  combined  would  not 
sell  an  acre  without  the  presence  on  the  ground,  actual 
or  prospective,  of  human  beings.  The  coming  of 
people  to  till  the  land  or  otherwise  use  it,  makes  it 
worth  having,  gives  it  a  value,  puts  a  price  on  it 
which  mounts  with  every  new  arrival.  At  any  mo- 
ment the  valuation  derives  almost  wholly  from  the 
advent  of  the  settlers,  from  their  labors  of  tillage, 
of  building,  of  making  towns  and  cities.  But  it  will 
happen  in  any  case  that  a  great  part  of  the  land, 
especially  at  centers  of  population  where  the  advance 
of  values  is  most  marked,  is  owned  by  persons  who 
do  not  reside  on  it,  who,  perhaps,  have  never  seen 
it,  who  live  a  thousand  miles  away,  and  do  nothing 
whatever  for  improvement  beyond  paying  their  taxes. 
The  considerable,  sometimes  enormous  increase  of 
value  is  a  social  product,  a  creation  of  the  various 
workers  drawn  to  the  place,  the  great  part  of  whom 
never  see  a  cent  of  the  increment  which  by  their 
presence  and  their  toil  they  have  created.  Much  of 
what  they  have  created  and  so  is  rightfully  theirs 
flows  into  the  pocket  of  some  absentee  landlord  who 
has  helped  not  at  all,  but  rather  hindered  a  growth 
out  of  which  he  derives  a  liberal  income.  This  money 
is  only  not  stolen  because,  under  the  present  order  of 
things,  the  holder  of  the  land  has  a  legal  right  to  an 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  205 

increment  of  value  which  he  has  not  earned  and  which 
justly  belongs  to  other  people. 

The  essence  of  robbery  lies  in  appropriating  some- 
thing which  is  rightfully  another's  without  giving  an 
equivalent  in  return ;  but  as  things  are  at  present  this 
is  constantly  done  with  no  slightest  sense  of  com- 
punction. The  gambler  does  it  barefacedly,  offsetting 
against  his  gains  only  the  risk  he  runs  of  losing. 
But  in  his  trade  as  in  stock-gambling  —  so  called 
from  its  resemblance  thereto  —  the  art  of  the  thing 
lies  in  reducing  to  a  minimum  the  risk  of  losing. 
They  who  contrive  to  load  the  dice  are  sure  enough 
of  winning.  Power  to  control  the  market  gives  to 
the  lords  of  finance  the  highwayman's  chance  to 
empty  the  pockets  of  whoever  ventures  on  the  same 
road,  and  gives  it  to  them  free  from  the  highwayman's 
risk  of  arrest. 

The  value  of  the  average  annual  production  of  a 
laborer  in  the  United  States  was  in  1900  reported 
to  be  $2377  ;  the  average  wages,  $425.  The  difference, 
^1952,  went  to  the  manufacturer,  contractor,  or  other 
employer.  Deducting  a  reasonable  amount  for  use 
of  money  invested,  and  for  superintendence,  with  a 
further  sum  to  cover  the  actual  risk  run  by  the  in- 
vestor, there  remains  a  net  profit,  large  as  compared 
with  the  wages  paid,  which  in  all  justice,  one  might 
think,  should  be  added  to  the  wages.  But  no;  this 
entire  remainder  is  appropriated  by  the  employer. 
Occasionally,  though  very  rarely,  we  hear  of  a 
capitalist  employer  of  labor  with  some   sensibility  to 


206  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

this  situation  making  over  to  his  employes  a  portion 
of  his  profits  —  a  small  fraction,  we  may  be  sure, 
but  nevertheless  aggregating  a  considerable  sum;  and 
it  is  worth  noting  that  in  such  cases  the  action  is 
pretty  generally  looked  upon  as  a  restitution  rather 
than  the  bestowal  of  a  gratuity.  The  fact  that  the 
distribution  is  voluntary  gives  it  the  appearance  of 
a  gift  made  out  of  pure  generosity,  but  the  world 
knows  that  the  recipients  really  earned  it  all.  Such 
acts  of  partial  restitution  are  no  doubt  greatly  more 
infrequent  than  they  w^ould  be  if  employers  generally 
were  individuals  instead  of  joint-stock  companies  made 
up  of  people  who  for  the  most  part  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  conduct  of  the  business,  contenting  them- 
selves with  a  careful  lookout  for  the  dividends.  As 
it  is,  voluntary  profit-sharing  with  the  workers,  even 
in  a  slight  measure,  is  exceptional,  serving  hardly 
more  than  to  mark  an  instinctive  recognition,  by  busi- 
ness men  of  conscience,  that  in  the  system  under 
which  they  are  living  and  acting  is  something  radi- 
cally wrong.  To  one  nowise  blinded  by  self-interest 
the  appropriation  by  the  capitalist  of  the  entire  profits 
of  industry  is,  fairly  considered,  nothing  better  than 
a  form  of  legalized  theft.  Few  see  it  thus,  because 
of  the  universal  practice,  conscience  itself  commonly 
yielding  to  custom. 

"  Custom   calls   me   to    it ; 
What  custom  wills,   in  all   things   should  we  do  it." 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  207 

MORAL  FAILURE  OF  OUR  ORTHODOX  ECONOMY 

These  immoral  principles  underlying  our  economic 
life,  it  is  very  difficult  to  point  to  any  department 
of  our  activities  where  uprightness  and  honor  are 
sedulously  cultivated.  Government  has  nominally  a 
function  of  this  sort;  nevertheless  in  practice  the 
ethics  of  legislatures  will  not  rank  high,  and  statutes, 
State  and  federal,  in  their  operation  not  infrequently 
prove  beyond  measure  debasing.  Take,  for  example, 
the  laws  governing  taxation.  If  the  Devil  himself 
had  conceived  them  expressly  for  the  wholesale 
corruption  and  debasement  of  the  people,  they  could 
hardly  have  been  better  suited  to  the  purpose.  Our 
tariff  laws  make  liars  and  swindlers  not  only  of  great 
importers,  but  of  a  host  of  travelers  returning  yearly 
from  lands  of  lower  prices.  These  latter  are  all  re- 
quired to  "  declare  "  in  black  and  white  the  purchases 
they  have  made  and  the  precise  cost  of  every  article. 
Those  whose  purchases  do  not  exceed  the  limited 
amount  kindly  allowed  to  come  in  free  of  duty  are 
naturally  very  conscientious  in  their  "  declarations  " ; 
but  the  others?  How  about  their  statements?  If 
one  person  out  of  a  shipload  is  strictly  honest  in  his 
report,  he  will  hardly  be  so  on  his  next  return,  not 
caring  to  place  himself  a  second  time  in  a  blaze  of 
moral  glory  so  exceptional.  And  how  can  we  expect 
people  to  be  punctilious  in  complying  with  customs 
regulations,  —  which  very  likely  in  their  hearts  they 
consider  unjust,   barbaric,  —  when   it   is  so  generally 


208  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

their  habit  to  dodge  whenever  they  can  the  payment 
of  taxes  the  most  equitable,  resorting  to  tricks  and 
misrepresentations  truly  despicable?  The  amount  of 
personal  property  that  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
assessor  in  this  richest  of  countries  is  derisory,  and 
provokes  the  comment  that  the  law  makes  liars  of  us 
all.  If  a  few  would  prefer  to  tell  the  truth,  they  are 
held  back  from  doing  so  by  the  practice  of  the  rest, 
truth-telling  under  the  circumstances  carrying  with  it 
the  penalty  of  paying  a  greatly  disproportionate  share 
of  the  taxes.  So  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  deny 
having  anything,  which  we  do  as  glibly  as  possible^ 
serenely  unmindful  of  the  fate  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira, 

Thus  a  good  part  of  our  laws  as  well  as  our 
customs  promote  vice ;  the  seamy  side  of  the  social 
system  comes  out  all  around.  Turn  which  way  we  will 
there  is  that  which  defiles.  Business  has  its  rules,  but 
its  moral  law  seems  to  be  limited  to  the  keeping 
of  contracts.  Its  very  soul  is  greed,  and  outside  of 
its  rules  it  will  not  be  stayed  by  any  consideration, 
human  or  divine.  The  social  structure  as  it  stands 
is  shaped  and  fashioned  in  its  interest,  to  nurture  its 
spirit  of  cupidity,  of  covetousness.  On  this  point 
Professor  Rauschenbusch  brings  the  ringing  arraign- 
ment :  — 

"  If  it  were  proposed  to  invent  some  social  system 
in  which  covetousness  would  be  deliberately  fostered 
and  intensified  in  human  nature,  what  system  could 
be  devised  which  would  excel  our  own  for  this  pur- 
pose?   Competitive  commerce  exalts  selfishness  to  the 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  209 

dignity  of  a  moral  principle.  It  pits  men  against  one 
another  in  a  gladiatorial  game  in  which  there  is  no 
mercy  and  in  which  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  com- 
batants finally  strew  the  arena.  It  makes  Ishmaels 
of  our  best  men  and  teaches  them  that  their  hand 
must  be  against  every  man,  since  every  man's  hand 
is  against  them.  It  makes  men  who  are  the  gentlest 
and  kindest  friends  and  neighbors,  relentless  task- 
masters in  their  shops  and  stores,  who  will  drain  the 
strength  of  their  men  and  pay  their  female  employees 
wages  on  which  no  girl  can  live  without  supplement- 
ing them  in  some  way ;  it  spreads  things  before  us 
and  beseeches  and  persuades  us  to  buy  what  we  do 
not  want.  The  show-windows  and  bargain-counters 
are  institutions  for  the  promotion  of  covetousness 
among  women.  Men  offer  us  goods  on  credit  and 
dangle  the  smallness  of  the  first  installment  before 
our  eyes  as  an  incentive  to  go  into  debt  heedlessly. 
They  try  to  break  down  the  foresight  and  self-restraint 
which  are  the  slow  product  of  moral  education,  and 
reduce  us  to  the  moral  habits  of  savages  who  gorge 
to-day  and  fast  to-morrow.  Kleptomania  multiplies. 
It  is  the  inevitable  product  of  a  social  life  in  which 
covetousness  is  stimulated  by  all  the  ingenuity  of 
highly  paid  specialists.  The  large  stores  have  to  take 
the  most  elaborate  precautions  against  fraud  by  their 
employees  and  pilfering  by  their  respectable  custom- 
ers. The  finest  hotels  are  plundered  by  their  wealthy 
patrons  of  anything  from  silver  spoons  down  to 
marked  towels.  After  the  annual  Ladies'  Day  at  a 
prominent  club  in  Chicago  over  two  hundred  spoons 


210  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

and  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  sprigs  of  artificial 
decoration,  besides  miniature  vases  and  bric-a-brac, 
were  missing;  and  that  is  always  the  case  after  Ladies* 
Day,  and  never  at  other  times.  At  a  reform-school 
for  boys  two  lads  were  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  sons 
of  two  men  of  great  wealth.  They  had  been  placed 
there  by  their  parents  to  cure  them  of  their  inveterate 
habit  of  stealing.  Their  fathers  were  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  Our  business  life  borders  so  closely 
on  dishonesty  that  men  are  hardly  aware  when  they 
cross  the  line.  It  is  a  penal  offense  for  a  government 
officer  to  profit  by  a  contract  which  he  awards  or 
mediates ;  in  business  life  that  is  an  every-day  occur- 
rence. No  wonder  that  our  officials  are  corrupt  when 
their  corruption  is  the  respectability  of  business  life."  * 
And,  be  it  observed,  this  terrible  impeachment  is 
of  the  system  rather  than  of  the  people  who  are  the 
victims  of  it.  The  land-owners,  the  mill-owners,  the 
shop-keepers,  the  legislators,  and  the  rest,  some  of 
w^hose  acts  we  reprobate,  do,  on  an  average,  no  worse 
than  others  would  do  in  their  places.  The  system 
conditions  success  on  courses  of  procedure  not  all  of 
which  are  morally  defensible,  and  only  the  few  to 
whom  success  is  a  secondary  consideration,  and  who, 
therefore,  pass  for  weaklings,  milk-sops,  incapables, 
decline  to  comply  with  the  conditions.  It  certainly  is 
not  possible  to  achieve  any  great  success  in  the  world, 
to  pile  up  millions,  and  at  the  same  time  in  all  things 
do   to   others   as   we   would   have    others    do   to   us. 


Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  pp.  265,  266. 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  211 

Indeed,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  one  can  in  that 
high  moral  fashion  get  through  the  world  at  all,  as  the 
world  is  now  constituted,  without  becoming  a  public 
charge.  Disinterestedness,  entire  devotion  to  the 
general  good,  love  of  the  human  brotherhood  and  of 
oneself  only  as  an  infinitesimal  part  thereof,  flies  full 
in  the  face  of  the  existing  order,  and  cannot  possibly 
be  practiced.  It  is  solemn  mockery  to  urge  anything 
of  the  kind.  The  custom  of  exhorting  people  to  be 
good,  results  under  present  circumstances  in  a  com- 
promise of  the  idea  of  goodness.  The  keeping  of  the 
Golden  Rule  is  frankly  set  aside  as  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, as  is  also  the  law  of  brotherly  love  in  its  general 
application.  One  is  charged  to  be  a  good  citizen, 
keeping  the  peace,  favoring  law  and  order;  a  good 
neighbor,  sympathetic  with  one's  set,  performing 
kindly  offices;  a  good  business-man,  maintaining  such 
integrities  as  the  current  rules  of  his  particular  busi- 
ness enjoin,  without,  of  course,  going  beyond  these 
to  cripple  himself  with  scruples  that  jeopardize 
success.  Every  one  knows  what  is  meant  by  a  "  good 
business-man,"  and  how  the  epithet  "  good "  varies 
in  its  meaning  with  the  business,  as  does  the  epithet 
"  bad." 

"  That  in  the  captain's  but  a  choleric  word, 
Which   in    the   soldier   is   flat  blasphemy." 

What  makes  a  man  "  good  "  in  one  line  may  count 
for  little  or  nothing  in  another.  It  is  good  business 
in  the  merchant  to  be  exceedingly  affable,  effusive,  to 
be  flush  with  his  money;    the  same  traits  are  par- 


212  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ticularly  "  good "  in  the  politician  —  notably  as 
election-day  approaches ;  but  in  the  physician  or  the 
lawyer  these  qualities  are  nearly  indifferent,  and  in 
depositaries  of  trusts,  guardians  of  people's  savings, 
they  are  prejudicial.  It  is  good  business  for  the 
banker  to  be  accurate  and  trustworthy,  to  be  honest, 
as  we  say.  But  his  honesty,  eminent  as  it  is,  is  not 
to  be  taken  in  every  sense  of  the  word.  They  who 
are  accustomed  to  bank  their  money,  and  even  to  place 
in  the  hands  of  their  banker,  without  so  much  as 
taking  a  receipt,  valuable  securities  payable  to  bearer, 
are  not  bound  to  suppose  that  his  honesty  is  broad 
enough  to  include  the  virtue  of  truth-telling.  A  vice- 
president  of  a  great  bank  assures  the  present  writer 
that  bankers,  in  what  they  say  of  one  another,  are 
unscrupulous  and  inveterate  liars.  Business  is  busi- 
ness, and  every  branch  of  it  has  its  vice  no  less 
essential  to  success  than  its  virtues.*  So  goodness  as 
it  comes  out  in  business  is  seen  to  be  a  sorry  com- 
promise, one  that  would  have  given  umbrage  to  the 
staid  moralists  of  other  days.     There  is  a  contradic- 


*  "  It  is  a  damnable  fact  that  cries  to  heaven  for  redress,  and  yet 
is  strangely  ignored  by  good  people  in  general,  that  we  all  of  us  every 
day  of  our  lives  are  actually  and  pereistently  tempted  into  doing 
what  we  assume  that  scoundrels  and  rascals  were  the  first  to  do, 
tempted  into  devising  a  new  adulteration,  or  into  some  other  ras- 
cally, swindling  operation ;  that  we  are  all  of  us,  good  as  well  as 
bad,  daily  and  hourly  being  tempted  into  gambling  and  other  similar 
anti-social  obliquities,  the  more  so  as  all  our  business  is  more  or  less 
gambling;  worst  of  all  that  poverty-stricken  women  among  us  are 
sorely  tempted  to  dishonor  themselves  ;  —  and  these  temptations, 
mark,  proceed  from  society,  which  ought  to  be  man's  Providence  on 
earth."  —  Gronlund,  TAe  New  Economy,  p.  81. 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  213 

tion  here  not  to  be  lightly  glossed  over,  as  the  manner 
of  some  preachers  and  religious  editors  is ;  it  is 
glaring  as  noonday,  and  not  to  be  hidden  from  men 
of  the  world  whose  current  sayings  right  to  the  point 
are:  "  One  cannot  do  business  and  also  run  a  moral- 
reform  society  " ;  "  The  Golden  Rule  is  not  applicable 
in  the  world  of  affairs";  "The  moral  law  is  incon- 
venient in  the  counting-room."  The  scarcely  disguised 
antagonism  comes  out  in  the  proverbially  slight  interest 
of  business  men  in  any  ethical  movement,  in  any  great 
cause,  even  in  municipal  reform  which  promises  a 
saving  of  money  as  well  as  of  morals.  They  coldly 
say  that  the  time  they  would  have  to  spend  in  re- 
forming the  administration  of  municipal  affairs  is 
worth  more  to  them  in  dollars  and  cents  than  all  they 
would  gain  by  squelching  corruption. 

Is  it  permissible  to  think  that  an  order  of  things 
thus  at  war  with  all  that  is  best  in  man  is  to  endure 
permanently,  working  evil  as  long  as  the  world  stands  ? 
Are  we  to  admit  that  the  comforting  belief  which  has 
sustained  reformers  in  every  age,  breaking  from  their 
lips  in  words  that  flashed  light  through  the  thickest 
darkness,  the  beHef  that  "  Truth  is  mighty  and  will 
prevail  "  ;     that, 

"Though  the  cause  of  Evil  prosper,  yet  'tis  Truth  alone  is 
strong  "  ; 

that 

"  Whoso  fights  and  whoso   falls, 
Justice  conquers  evermore  "  ; 

that  Right,  crushed  to-day,  will  rise  again  to-morrow, 


214  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

—  that  all  this  is  nothing  better  than  a  hollow  delu- 
sion? For  some  of  us,  at  least,  no  such  blank 
pessimism  will  serve.  If  it  be  true  that  a  law  of 
social  evolution  is  blindly  working  out  a  new  and 
better  social  order,  well  and  good ;  so  much  the  more 
evidence  of  beneficence  in  the  nature  of  things ;  but 
in  the  meantime,  and  in  view  of  a  possible  incon- 
clusiveness  in  the  materialistic  argument,  it  will  not 
be  amiss  to  keep  with  the  luminous  ones  who  have 
thought  that  the  human  spirit  with  its  convictions,  its 
hopes,  and  its  longings,  has  much  to  do  with  the 
shaping  of  the  human  world ;  they  will  not  only 
comfort  us,  they  will  stimulate  us  to  high  endeavors 
to  that  end. 

SOCIALISM    PROPOSES    MORAL    RENOVATION    FROM 
THE    FOUNDATION 

A  chief  distinction  of  socialism  is  that  it  is  an 
ethical  system,  a  system  through  and  through  suffused 
with  a  moral  purpose.  Its  supreme  watchword  is 
Justice,  Social  Justice.  It  works  for  the  equal  rights 
of  all  without  regard  to  class.  Its  advocate  is  not 
thinking  of  the  benefit  he  may  personally  derive  from 
its  adoption,  he  is  thinking  of  all  his  fellows  up  and 
down  the  earth,  and  of  them  in  the  degree  of  their 
need.  Indeed  it  is  hardly  the  living  that  he  expects 
will  enter  upon  the  full  realization  of  his  hopes,  but 
a  generation  as  yet  unborn ;  a  fact  which  gives  to 
his  earnestness  and  his  devotion  a  high  spiritual 
significance.  Hard  to  match  in  disinterestedness,  in 
generous  ardor,  in  self-efifacing  toil  for  a  remote  end, 


I 
i 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  215 

are  the  people,  plain  and  homespun  for  the  most  part, 
often  chivalrous  youth,  who  have  taken  up  this 
propaganda.  Testimony  to  all  this  is  borne  by 
observers  outside  as  well  as  inside  the  movement. 
Professor  Richard  T.  Ely  who,  appreciative  as  he  is 
of  socialism,  would  hardly  call  himself  a  socialist, 
writes : 

"  Nothing  in  the  present  day  is  so  likely  to  awaken 
the  conscience  of  the  ordinary  man  or  woman,  or  to 
increase  the  sense  of  individual  responsibility,  as  a 
thorough  course  in  socialism.  The  study  of  socialism 
has  proved  the  turning-point  in  thousands  of  lives, 
and  converted  self-seeking  men  and  women  into  self- 
sacrificing  toilers  for  the  masses.  The  impartial 
observer  can  scarcely  claim  that  the  Bible  produces 
so  marked  an  effect  upon  the  daily,  habitual  life  of 
the  average  man  and  the  average  woman  who  profess 
to  guide  their  conduct  by  it,  as  socialism  does  upon 
its  adherents.  The  strength  of  socialism  in  this 
respect  is  more  like  that  of  early  Christianity  as 
described  in  the  New  Testament."  * 

Occasionally  a  jibe  is  flung  at  the  "  immorality  of 
socialism,"  but  it  is  sure  to  come  from  one  who  is 
either  intentionally  unjust,  or  is  not  well  informed  on 
what  he  is  talking  about.  Not  but  that  there  are 
socialists  who  are  less  than  models  to  hold  up  to 
our  children ;  such  persons  beyond  a  question  are  to 
be  met  with  in  other  political  parties;  they  have  been 
found,  it  is  said,  even  in  churches.    The  socialists  are 


*  Socialism  and  Social  Reform,  pp.  145,  146. 


216  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

not  a  religious  order,  a  Christian  denomination  of 
Puritanical  pretensions;  but,  curiously  enough,  an 
opponent  who  knows  them  is  apt  to  handle  them  as 
though  they  were,  and  to  treat  any  scandal  in  the 
life  of  one  of  their  party-leaders  with  a  rigor  of 
criticism  never  applied  to  the  doings  of  men  in  other 
political  parties,  and  rarely  used  even  in  dealing  with 
the  sins  of  churchmen.  An  unavoidable  inference 
from  this  custom,  of  which  examples  might  be  cited 
from  religious  journals,  is  that  socialists  are  supposed 
to  have  higher  moral  ideals  than  their  opponents,  and, 
so  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  lead  better  lives. 

In  point  of  fact  the  socialists  are  the  only  political 
party  with  a  platform  distinctively  and  comprehen- 
sively moral.  The  contentions  of  the  great  parties, 
where  they  are  not  solely  for  "  the  spoils  of  office," 
go  not  beyond  some  economic  question  such  as 
tariff,  or  form  of  currency,  or  steamship  subsidies. 
Generally,  as  elections  come  on,  their  difficulty  is  to 
find  an  issue  that  really  means  anything  to  the  mass 
of  the  people.  Though  other,  smaller  parties  are  not 
so  poor  in  this  respect,  they  have  but  one  idea,  and 
stop  with  that,  be  it  single-tax,  prohibition  of  liquor- 
selling,  or  what  not.  But  the  socialist  platform  sets 
forth  an  imposing  array  of  principles,  every  one  of 
them  vitally  significant  to  the  body-politic,  as  friend 
and  foe  can  see,  every  one  of  them  embodying  a 
moral  obligation.  There  is  a  distinctly  human  element 
running  through  it  from  end  to  end,  a  spirit  of  justice, 
of  fraternity,  of  universal  fellowship,  such  as  no  other 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  217 

party  knows  and  no  church  offers.  John  Spargo  gives 
us  only  the  plain  truth  where  he  says : 

"  In  spite  of  all  our  much  vaunted  progress,  if  we 
except  the  strivings  of  the  socialists,  the  spiritual 
note  is  almost  wholly  lacking  in  our  national  life. 
Everywhere  there  is  crass  materialism,  an  absence  of 
ideals  of  social  justice  and  righteousness.  The  dollar 
standard  rules  everywhere.  We  boast  loudly  enough 
about  our  material  wealth,  but  we  are  careless  of 
those  purple  fountains  of  wealth,  the  blood  of  human 
beings.  An  assault  upon  any  of  our  markets  anywhere 
is  quickly  repelled,  but  not  so  an  assault  upon  the 
lives  of  human  beings.  The  dollar  still  holds  a  higher 
place  than  man  in  our  social  economy. 

"  Infinitely  precious,  therefore,  is  this  challenge  to 
our  national  brain  and  conscience  which  the  socialist 
brings.  With  unwavering  courage  and  eloquence  fired 
with  the  elemental  passion  for  liberty,  the  socialists 
are  incessantly  demanding  that  human  beings  be  placed 
above  dollars  in  our  social  reckonings.  Echoing 
Isaiah's  exhortation,  the  modern  socialist  agitator  is 
forever  crying,  '  Come,  let  us  reason  together !  Let 
us  take  stock  of  our  national  life !  Are  our  posses- 
sions worth  the  price  we  pay  for  them?  Is  Mammon 
a  good  paymaster  ?  '  The  challenge  of  Jesus  to  the 
individual,  our  socialist  agitator  hurls  at  the  nation : 
What  doth  it  profit  a  nation  if  it  gains  the  whole 
world  but  loses  its  own  soul? 

"  Granted  the  glory  of  '  our  far-flung  battle-line,' 
do  we  seek  to  pay  for  it  by  robbing  childhood's  checks 


218  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  their  bloom  and  joy?  Granted  the  impressiveness 
of  the  tables  of  exports  and  imports  with  their 
'  balance  of  trade '  gains,  are  we  sure  that  all  the  cost 
is  counted,  all  the  cries  and  tears,  all  the  wrecked 
hopes  and  damned  souls?  Granted  the  splendor  of 
the  palaces  of  our  milHonaires  and  the  cathedrals  in 
which  they  worship,  can  we  be  indifferent  to  the 
number  of  human  lives  paid  for  them?  Is  it  of  no 
moment  to  us  that  for  the  splendor  of  the  palace  we 
must  endure  the  squalor  of  a  thousand  noisome,  body- 
and-soul-destroying  hovels ;  that  for  the  grandeur  of 
the  cathedral  we  must  endure  the  shame  of  the  brothel 
and  the   reproach   of   the  harlot?"* 

VICTORY    MUST    ULTIMATELY    COME    TO    THE    CAUSE 
WHICH    IS    JUST    AND    RIGHT 

The  sure  ground  of  our  hopes  in  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  socialism  lies  in  the  character  of  its  con- 
tentions, their  humanity,  their  justice,  their  thorough- 
going equity  and  righteousness.  The  devotees  among 
us  put  this  reason  for  their  confidence  in  the  lines  of 
Faber : 

"  For   right  is    right,   since  God   is   God, 
•    And  right  the  day  must  win." 

Others,  touched  with  modernism,  put  the  same  thought 
in  another  form,  and  cite  a  proximate  rather  than  a 
final  cause.  The  reason,  so  far  as  they  can  see,  for 
holding  that  Right  will  win  is  that  it  is  capable  of 


*  Spiritual  Significance  of  Modern  Socialism,  pp.  48-50. 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  219 

forceful  presentation  to  the  minds  of  men ;  the  minds 
of  men,  if  they  can  be  reached,  being  responsive  to 
the  voice  of  truth  and  justice.  It  matters  little  in 
what  terms  we  explain  to  ourselves  why  a  great  cause 
succeeds,  but  the  conditions  under  which  it  is  observed 
to  succeed  are  important  practical  considerations,  and 
may  be  definitely  determined.  With  the  continuance 
of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  now  established 
in  civilized  countries,  a  really  important  movement 
which  can  be  shown  to  be  at  once  beneficent  and 
practical  seems  to  be  certain  of  ultimate  popular 
approval.  The  stolid  masses  may  be  distressingly 
slow  about  falling  into  line,  and  selfishly  interested 
opponents  may  long  block  the  way;  but  the  moral 
strength  of  the  cause  will  prove  too  much  for  lethargy 
on  the  one  hand  and  for  rapacity  on  the  other,  will 
enlist  such  a  force  of  devoted,  tireless  advocates  as 
to  awaken  the  slumbering  conscience  of  the  people 
and  call  to  the  field  a  crusading  army  strong  enough 
to  bear  down  all  opposition. 

A  feature  about  socialism  universally  remarked 
upon  is  the  number  of  its  earnest,  voluntary,  self- 
sacrificing  propagandists.  One  meets  them  at  every 
turn  and  in  most  unexpected  places,  mostly  among 
the  intelligent  poor,  but  occasionally  in  the  homes  of 
the  rich,  deeply  serious  souls  touched  with  the  needless 
sorrows  of  the  world,  doing  diligently  their  work, 
letting  no  opportunity  slip  to  cast  some  little  light 
on  the  dark  side  of  life  and  to  show  how  greatly 
socialism  would  change  all  that.  Whoever  is  known 
to  be  appreciative  of  the  movement  sees  much  of  these 


220  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

workers,  and  can  but  admire,  though  often  with  a 
feehng  of  humihation,  the  persistence,  the  unweary- 
ing patience,  the  wholehearted  disinterestedness,  with 
which  they  carry  on  their  difficult  and  often  disagree- 
able educative  work.  Many  of  them  are  youths  just 
out  of  college,  overflowing  with  an  ardor  of  devotion 
that  speaks  from  their  eager  eyes.  When  one  of 
these  comes  into  your  office  or  your  study  with  a 
bundle  of  papers  or  tracts  under  his  arm,  his  face 
aglow  with  a  fine  enthusiasm  of  humanity  which  makes 
you  unmindful  of  his  plain  attire,  bringing  his  thought 
of  the  new  world  to  be  made  out  of  the  old, — a  crudity, 
it  may  be,  in  his  ideas,  which  you  overlook  for  the 
moment  and  forget  when  he  is  gone,  —  there  is  that 
about  him  which  suggests  the  men  who  in  other 
centuries  went  over  Europe  converting  the  heathen 
to  Christianity ;  and  when  he  takes  his  leave  you  feel 
that  he  has  taken  a  bit  of  your  heart  with  him.  It 
is  because  such  calls  have  come  to  the  present  writer 
that  he  is  now  writing.  Among  these  visitors  he 
recalls  a  young  Presbyterian  clerg}'man  of  good  mind 
and  good  culture  and  a  heart  that  has  room  for  all 
that  is  human,  who,  coming  to  think  that  socialism 
is  practically  the  same  as  Christianity,  ventured  to 
preach  it  in  his  village  church,  —  with  results  that 
might  have  been  expected.  Not  to  be  silenced,  he 
came  to  the  city,  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  man  of  means 
here  who  believes  in  the  cause,  started  a  little  socialist 
publication,  built  with  his  own  hands  a  shelter  for 
himself  and  his  wife  in  which  he  lived  in  more  than 
apostolic  simplicity,   working   early   and   late   for   the 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  221 

cause  nearest  his  heart,  writing  much  and  speaking 
wherever  he  could  get  a  hearing.  The  financial 
returns  of  his  publishing  enterprise,  even  with  the 
subsidy  of  his  one  generous  patron,  hardly  meeting 
expenses,  he  finally,  rather  than  quit  the  city  and  lose 
the  chance  of  saying  his  word,  took  to  driving  a  coal- 
delivery  wagon  for  one  of  the  great  firms.  No 
hardship,  no  discouragement,  no  neglect  dismayed  him. 
He  left  us  at  last  only  to  seize  an  opportunity  which 
would  enable  him  elsewhere  the  better  to  further  his 
one  absorbing,  unremunerative  interest. 

If  there  is  any  such  thing  as  evolution  in  morals,  a 
tendency  to  the  elimination  of  evil  and  to  the  up- 
building of  what  is  good  and  true,  of  what  is  for 
human  weal,  the  triumph  of  socialism  in  its  struggle 
with  capitalism  is  inevitable;  for  it  proposes  nothing 
less  than  the  wiping  out  of  a  set  of  conditions  which 
are  the  compelling  cause  of  the  most  shocking 
inequalities,  the  subjugation  of  three-fourths  of  the 
human  world  to  the  service  of  the  other  fourth,  and 
their  perpetual  exploitation  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave. 

In  the  first  place  socialism  would  completely  change 
the  outlook  upon  the  world  to  the  new-comer,  and 
make  his  welcome  and  his  fate  forever  cease  to 
depend  on  the  accident  of  high  or  low  birth.  It 
would  make  not  only  the  breathing  air  and  the  rolling 
waters  accessible  to  him,  but  the  land  as  well;  so 
putting  an  end  at  once  to  these  two  abominations  : 
the  monstrous  evil  of  asserting  an  exclusive  private 
ownership  in  what  is  obviously  by  right  a  universal 


222  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

provision  of  Nature,  and  the  appropriation  by  indi- 
viduals of  the  enhancement  in  value  of  land  due  to 
the  influx  of  population,  —  a  form,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  legalized  robbery  of  enormous  proportions.  This 
alone  is  so  immeasurably  great  a  reform  that  even  the 
moderate  approach  to  it  proposed  by  Henry  George  is 
believed  by  his  followers  to  promise  the  practical 
abolition  of  poverty  and  of  a  great  part  of  the  ills 
that  accompany  poverty.  The  single-tax  would  cer- 
tainly save  from  the  moral  miseries  of  seeking,  by 
deception  or  downright  lying,  to  escape  assessment 
of  property  that  can  be  concealed.  But  all  this  and 
much  more  would  result  from  collective  ownership 
of  the  whole  domain,  which  would  make  an  end  even 
of  land  taxation  and  of  the  corruption  with  which  the 
whole  business  of  assessment  is  beset. 

The  evil  of  landlordism  has  not  as  yet  attained  any 
such  growth  in  America  as  it  has  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  so  vast  has  been  the  extent  of  our  unoccu- 
pied territory ;  but  the  land-grabbers  are  crowding 
to  the  front,  and  ever  have  an  eye  on  the  most 
desirable  tracts.  Especially  are  the  forests  falling 
into  their  hands  now  that  timber  has  become 
valuable,  and  all  mineral,  oil,  gas,  and  coal  deposits 
are  seized  upon  with  avidity.  One  cannot  but  think 
how  incomparably  more  comfortable  in  outward 
things,  how  much  whiter  and  fairer  within,  our  people 
as  a  whole  would  have  been  had  they  had  from  the 
first  the  enjoyment  of  equal  rights  in  all  the  bounties 
that  Nature  has  lavished  upon  this  wide-reaching  land 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  223 

which,  or  any  part  of  which,  most  of  us  unfortunately 
can  call  our  "  own  "  only  in  a  Pickwickian  sense. 

We  believe  in  the  future  of  socialism  because  it 
proposes  to  restore  to  the  disinherited  their  equal  right, 
with  any  and  all,  to  every  natural  good,  and  to  make 
that  right  inalienable  to  them  and  their  children  for- 
ever. Such  a  project  of  universal  justice  links  the 
movement  to  the  eternal  verities  and  to  the  forward 
trend  of  things  in  the  moral  world,  and  these,  we 
take  it,  are  the  surest  grounds  of  confidence. 

The  existing  order  of  things  is  often  commended 
for  a  supposed  power  it  has  to  stimulate  enterprise 
and  promote  industry.  The  work  of  the  world  would 
slacken,  we  are  told,  but  for  the  whip  which  private 
ownership  of  the  means  of  production  puts  in  the 
hands  of  the  managers.  But  as  matter  of  fact  the 
tendency  of  our  people  under  this  system  is  away  from 
the  work  of  production,  away  from  the  creation  of 
wealth,  and  into  speculation  in  wealth  already  created, 
into  all  sorts  of  exchange  other  than  that  which 
belongs  to  the  legitimate  distribution  of  the  products 
of  labor,  all  sorts  of  efforts  to  get  something  for 
nothing;  hence  we  have  a  swollen  and  ever-swelling 
class  of  unprofitable  citizens  who  scorn  to  do  anything 
useful,  who  "  live  by  their  wits  " ;  that  is,  by  their 
skill  in  manipulating  values  and  getting  possession  of 
what  is  not  their  own  in  such  astute  ways  as  to  escape 
criminal  charges.  This  is  the  exciting  game  of  life 
in  our  modern  world,  and  appeals  to  so  large  a  part 
of  our  native  population  that  the  duller  labor  of  pro- 


224  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

duction  is  left  in  great  and  ever-increasing  measure 
to  immigrants.  These  in  turn,  if  at  all  favorably 
situated,  develop  in  the  next  generation  the  same 
disinclination  to  toil,  and  so  our  industries  call  for 
an  ever  in-flowing  stream  of  foreigners.  This  does 
not  look  as  though  the  system  under  which  we  live 
were  favorable  to  habits  of  industry.  But  the  point 
germane  to  this  present  discussion  is  that  the  system 
does  induce  immorality,  sets  men  preying  upon  one 
another,  gambling  in  values  that  other  men  create, 
content  to  live  upon  a  world  for  which  they  do  nothing, 
in  which  they  have  no  useful  function  unless  it  be  to 
reproduce  their  species. 

We  have  seen  how  by  our  unjust  arrangements  the 
unearned  increment  in  land,  obviously  a  social  product, 
becomes  the  land-owner's  perquisite.  There  is  an 
unearned  increment  also  in  other  property,  arising 
from  the  same  cause  —  growth  of  population  —  and 
which  ought  in  justice  to  go  to  that  population.  Thus, 
advance  in  railroad  stocks  (other  than  spasmodic 
leaps  speculatively  induced)  comes  from  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country,  the  multiplication  of  its  people 
and  of  their  products,  from  the  toil  of  a  greatly 
increased  number  of  human  hands  along  the  lines 
and  at  connecting  points.  It  is,  therefore,  a  social 
product,  belongs  of  right  to  the  people  who  have 
caused  it.  But,  under  existing  conditions,  it  makes 
the  fortune  of  individual  stockholders  and  quickens 
the  pulse  of  speculation.  Socialism  would  put  an  end 
to  all  this.  The  people  would  own  the  railroads  and 
all  other  public  utilities,  and  the  benefits  would  accrue 


Prospects  on  Moral  Grounds  225 

to  the  people.  The  rage  of  speculation  would  die 
away  for  lack  of  anything  to  feed  on,  and  the  host 
of  speculators  would  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
seeking  some  productive  employment.  We  believe  in 
the  future  of  socialism  because  it  will  bring  this 
immense  moral  gain. 

So  we  may  reasonably  think  that  when  the  case  is 
clearly  set  before  the  people  they  will  see  that  there 
is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a  higher  morality  in  securing 
to  every  worker  the  full  net  result  of  his  labor  than 
there  is  in  permitting  the  capitalist  entrepreneur  to 
take  the  entire  profit  of  production ;  and  we  may 
further  reasonably  think  that  when  the  course  of 
higher  morality  is  made  plain  to  everybody,  a  way 
will  be  found  to  take  that  course;  in  other  words 
socialism  will  result. 

If,  as  Mr.  Carnegie  thinks,  a  sufficient  reason  for 
opposing  the  scheme  of  an  income-tax  is,  "  that  it  will 
make  a  nation  of  liars,"  one  is  at  a  loss  to.  see  what 
defense  there  is  for  a  great  part  of  the  tax-laws 
already  on  the  statute-books.  Most  taxes  are  more 
or  less  evaded  by  the  same  improbity  that  an  income- 
tax  would  provoke.  A  capitalist  government  which 
should  disallow  all  imposts  not  favorable  to  morality 
would  find  itself  reduced  to  straitened  circumstances. 
It  is  the  conspicuous  feature  of  the  whole  social  system 
that  it  incites  falsifying,  over-reaching,  inordinate 
cupidity,  and  to  such  a  degree  that  ever  and  anon 
there  is  uncovered  in  high  places  some  scandalous 
exhibition  of  these  vices,  calling  for  a  spasmodic  legal 
fumigation    of    a    city    and    the    deportation    to    a 


226  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

penitentiary  of  a  batch  of  its  officials  and  leading 
citizens.  How  then  can  we  help  thinking  that  this 
system  must  pass  away,  and  that  the  sole  practical 
substitute  ever  suggested  must  take  its  place? 

It  surely  is  not  possible  that  an  order  of  things  that 
at  so  many  points  revolts  the  moral  sense  can  be  the 
final  order.  People  are  not  going  to  persist  forever 
in  nurturing  their  children  in  a  theory  and  practice 
at  war  with  the  best  instincts  of  childhood,  and  to 
which  the  unsoiled,  sensitive  spirit  at  first  yields  with 
an  unforgettable  pang.  The  world  will  not  forever 
keep  up  the  farce  of  formally  professing  to  honor  a 
high  moral  code  and  at  the  same  time  notoriously 
disregard  it  wherever  it  obstructs  the  way  to  material 
gain;  one  of  the  two  courses  will  certainly  be 
abandoned.  Either  the  profession,  becoming  more  and 
more  hollow  and  meaningless,  will  cease  to  be  made, 
and  we  shall  arrive  at  a  stage  undisguisedly  conscience- 
less, with  no  shadow  of  faith  in  anything  above  the 
baseness  of  our  practice ;  or  the  soul  within  us,  "  our 
life's  star,"  will  break  through  the  clouds  about  us, 
will  disperse  them  beyond  our  horizon,  will  command 
our  actions  no  less  than  our  thoughts,  and  we  shall 
have  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth.  To  them  who 
believe  that  the  moral  sense  in  man  is  the  sublimest 
thing  we  know,  —  the  final  outcome  of  ages  of 
evolution,  —  that  it  is  linked  with  what  is  supreme, 
deepest,  highest,  and  mightiest  in  the  universe,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  issue  of  this 
antagonism. 


CHAPTER  IX 
SOCIALISM  UNIVERSAL  PEACE 

Since  so  famous  a  warrior  as  General  Sherman 
made  the  trenchant  averment,  "  War  is  hell,"  nobody 
dealing  with  the  subject  need  any  more  stand  in  fear 
of  exaggerating  its  abominations.  Presumably  that 
characterization  covers  the  worst  that  can  be  said. 
Still,  with  all  the  flame  it  suggests,  the  saying  can 
hardly  be  called  illuminating.  The  rough  word  of  the 
predicate,  once  full  of  lurid  light,  has  grown  dull  and 
vacuous  in  our  day.  Carlyle's  picture  of  a  definite 
typical  bit  of  war  is  more  to  the  present  purpose: 

"  What,  speaking  in  quite  unofficial  language,  is  the 
net  purport  and  upshot  of  war?  To  my  own  knowl- 
edge, for  example,  there  dwell  and  toil  in  the  British 
village  of  Dumdrudge  usually  some  five  hundred  souls. 
From  these,  by  certain  *  Natural  Enemies '  of  the 
French,  there  are  successfully  selected  during  the 
French  war,  say  thirty  able-bodied  men.  Dumdrudge 
at  her  own  expense  has  suckled  and  nursed  them;  she 
has,  not  without  difficulty  and  sorrow,  fed  them  up  to 
manhood,  and  even  trained  them  to  crafts,  so  that 
one  can  weave,  another  build,  another  hammer,  and 
the  weakest  can  stand  under  thirty  stone  avoirdupois. 
Nevertheless,  amid  much  weeping  and  swearing,  they 
are  selected ;  all  dressed  in  red ;  and  shipped  away  at 
the  public  charges  some  two  thousand  miles,  or  say 


228  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

only  to  the  south  of  Spain ;  and  fed  there  till  wanted. 
And  now  to  that  same  spot,  in  the  south  of  Spain, 
are  thirty  similar  French  artisans,  from  a  French 
Dumdrudge,  in  like  manner  wending;  till  at  length 
after  infinite  effort  the  two  parties  come  into  actual 
juxtaposition;  and  Thirty  stands  fronting  Thirty,  each 
with  a  gun  in  his  hand.  Straightway  the  word  '  Fire ! ' 
is  given ;  and  they  blow  the  souls  out  of  one  another ; 
and  in  place  of  sixty  brisk,  useful  craftsmen,  the 
world  has  sixty  dead  carcasses,  which  it  must  bury, 
and  anew  shed  tears  for.  Had  these  men  any  quarrel? 
Busy  as  the  Devil  is,  not  the  smallest !  They  lived 
far  enough  apart ;  were  the  entirest  strangers ;  nay, 
in  so  wide  a  Universe,  there  was  even,  unconsciously, 
by  Commerce,  some  mutual  helpfulness  between  them. 
How  then?  Simpleton!  their  Governors  had  fallen 
out;  and  instead  of  shooting  one  another,  had  the 
cunning  to  make  these  poor  blockheads  shoot.  —  Alas, 
so  is  it  in  Deutschland,  and  hitherto  in  all  other  lands ; 
still  as  of  old,  '  what  devilry  soever  Kings  do,  the 
Greeks  must  pay  the  piper ! '  —  In  that  fiction  of  the 
English  Smollet,  it  is  true,  the  final  Cessation  of  War 
is  perhaps  prophetically  shadowed  forth ;  where  the 
two  Natural  Enemies,  in  person,  take  each  a  Tobacco- 
pipe,  filled  with  Brimstone ;  light  the  same,  and  smoke 
in  one  another's  faces  till  the  weaker  gives  in;  but 
from  such  predicted  Peace-Era,  what  blood-filled 
trenches  and  contentious  centuries  may  still  divide 
us!"* 


*  Sartor  Resartus,  Book  2,  Chapter  VIII. 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  229 

The  fidelity  of  this  sketch  to  facts  can  be  ques- 
tioned only  in  that  the  sixty  combatants  are  made 
mercifully  to  accomplish  with  promptitude  a  sweeping 
slaughter,  whereas  in  reality  death  on  a  battle-field 
is  usually  less  summary,  coming  under  hideous  cir- 
cumstances and  after  long-drawn-out  agonies,  often 
after  successive  wounds  in  many  a  terrific  encounter. 

The  hard  facts  of  the  business  do  not  come  out 
much  in  our  histories.  Of  the  grim,  horrific  spectacle 
presented  by  any  battle  of  our  own  time  we  know 
next  to  nothing  unless  we  were  on  the  ground,  and 
even  then  but  a  little  part.  What  war-time  shows  us 
vividly  is  a  season  of  intense  public  excitement,  a 
high  tide  of  enthusiasm  carrying  the  multitude  away; 
we  see  the  waving  of  banners,  the  marching  of  the 
gaily  caparisoned  troops,  hear  the  stirring  strains  of 
*'  wild  war-music,"  and  the  flaming  words  of 
"  patriotic  "  orators.  The  young  and  ardent,  swept 
by  the  wave  of  passion,  are  eager  to  do  and  to  dare, 
and  snatch  with  joy  at  whatever  fate.  All  goes  merry 
as  a  marriage-bell;  —  but  after?  The  curtain  drops 
on  the  passage  of  our  brothers  to  the  front,  and  of 
what  befalls  them  we  get  only  an  inkling  now  and 
then.  In  the  end  we  find  that  many  of  them  come 
not  back,  and  the  remnant  comes  mostly  maimed  and 
scarred.  The  survivors  are  welcomed  home  with 
heartiness,  but  the  old  illusion  is  broken.  The  frenzied 
devotion  of  the  outsetting  is  shrouded  now  by  too 
many  griefs,  that  gala-day  turned,  in  the  memory  of 
thousands,  into  the  saddest,  darkest  day  in  life. 

Where  an  armed   struggle   is   inevitable,  as  under 


230  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

present  conditions  it  may  perhaps  sometimes  be,  the 
devotion  of  the  soldier  is  assuredly  something  to  com- 
mand praise ;  no  aspersion  is  to  be  cast  upon  it.  The 
thing  to  be  arraigned  and  adjudged  is  the  popular 
notion,  installed  and  nurtured  by  many  of  our 
politicians,  that  war  is  in  itself  eminently  honorable, 
having  even  a  distinctly  ethical  quality;  that  nothing 
accords  better  with  the  Ten  Commandments  than  the 
killing  of  ten  thousand,  twenty  thousand  men,  if  only 
it  be  done  in  battle.  These  twenty  thousand  victims 
in  the  two  armies,  like  Carlyle's  sixty,  have  no  sign  of 
a  grudge  against  those  they  are  killing;  they  do  it 
mechanically,  with  machines  skilfully  devised  for  the 
purpose;  do  it  with  less  consciousness  of  impropriety 
than  they  would  feel  in  killing  so  many  pigeons.  The 
shedding  of  all  this  blood  seems  as  blameless  as  the 
pouring  out  of  so  much  water.  It  had  been  repre- 
hensible to  have  spilled  only  so  much  if  there  had  been 
a  possibility  of  spilling  more.  But  if  two  men  between 
whom  lie  grevious  wrongs  meet  on  the  street,  or  even 
in  a  retired  spot,  and  fight  till  one  or  the  other  dies, 
the  survivor  is  brought  to  trial  charged  with  a  capital 
offense.  Here  seems  to  be  an  amazing  inconsistency. 
The  soldier,  to  be  sure,  is  not  censurable  for  the 
carnage  he  inflicts;  he,  like  his  weapon,  is  merely  a 
mechanical  agent  in  the  business.  He  has  not  planned 
the  combat ;  he  has  not  brought  on  the  war.  But 
somebody  has.  The  governments  concerned,  one  or 
both  of  them,  have  done  all  that;  and  a  government, 
murderous  as  it  may  be,  can  hardly  be  arraigned  in 
court  and  tried  for  its  life.    Unfortunately  nobody  but 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  231 

the  socialists  seems  to  think  that  it  should  be,  unless 
the  war  has  been  exceptionally  disastrous.  But 
ulterior  success,  or  the  lack  of  it,  has  no  bearing  on 
the  moral  quality  of  wholesale  slaughter. 

THE    EVILS    OF    WAR 

The  evils  of  war  have  ever  been  all  too  lightly 
esteemed.  Even  its  flagrantly  obvious  abominations 
have  not  yet  sunk  deep  enough  into  the  minds  of 
most  persons  to  evoke  anything  like  a  due  abhorrence. 
The  subject  needs  a  fresh  and  exhaustive  study  in  all 
its  bearings,  by  competent  authorities,  the  weight  of 
whose  names  might  give  to  their  researches  power  to 
create  a  juster  public  sentiment  on  this  subject,  and 
sway  especially  the  minds  of  those  who  sit  in  high 
places.  We  get  some  general  notion  of  the  horrors 
by  reading  accounts  given  by  eye-witnesses  of  battles 
on  land  and  sea ;  from  reflecting  on  the  destructive- 
ness  of  the  enginery  now  employed  and  the  skill 
developed  in  the  use  of  it;  in  noting  the  reported 
loss  of  men  and  of  material.  Especially  is  an  impres- 
sion made  by  such  a  masterly  presentation  of  the 
subject  as  we  have  in  Die  Waff  en  nieder  of  the 
Baroness  von  Suttner,  the  spell  of  the  gifted  story- 
teller reaching  wide  among  the  people  and  engendering 
an  enlightened  public  sentiment  as  nothing  else  can. 
But  no  picture,  no  estimate  of  losses,  no  harrowing 
tale,  can  adequately  set  forth  the  facts.  Of  the 
waste  of  property  an  idea  can  be  got  from  the  record 
of  ships  sunk,  of  towns,  bridges,  railroads,  crops 
destroyed,   of   commerce   interfered   with,   of   normal 


232  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

labor  suspended,  of  increase  in  the  public  debt.  But 
the  loss  in  what  are  euphemistically  called  the 
"  casualties  "  is  only  partly  told  by  the  official  figures. 
The  soldiers  and  sailors,  we  must  remember,  are 
picked  men,  young,  sound,  and  in  a  way  skilled.  What 
the  slaughter  of  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  these 
means  to  a  country  is  very  imperfectly  indicated  by 
the  figures,  imposing  as  they  are.  There  is  inflicted 
an  impoverishment  not  to  be  made  up  by  the  birth 
and  growth  to  manhood  of  as  many  more  boys ; 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  percentage  there  will 
be  in  the  new  generation  not  up  to  the  standard ;  and 
any  wholesale  cutting  off  of  picked  men  infallibly 
increases  that  percentage.  Just  what  is  the  actual 
deterioration  a  people  suffers  in  this  letting  down  of 
the  average  inheritance  of  virility  through  the  oflfering 
of  a  mighty  holocaust  of  its  best  to  the  god  of  war, 
we  are  not  yet  in  a  position  to  say,  but  that  it  is  very 
considerable  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

Then,  whatever  to  the  contrary  men  taken  with 
outward  show  may  say,  there  results  from  every  war, 
for  victors  as  well  as  vanquished,  a  moral  subsidence, 
a  spiritual  decline  in  some  respects  if  not  in  all.  This 
comes  out  in  an  enfeebled  sense  of  the  value  of 
human  life;  in  a  lessened  regard  for  property  rights 
induced  by  habits  of  pillage  and  destruction;  in  a 
disinclination  to  resume  a  career  of  sober  industry ; 
in  irregularities  of  all  sorts  to  which  the  nomadic 
life  of  the  soldier  conduces.  The  lowering  of  the 
moral  tone  in  the  United  States  by  means  of  the 
war  with  Spain  was  plain  to  all  but  the  wilfully  blind. 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  233 

To  mention  only  one  of  the  evidences  of  this  detri- 
ment: Before  the  war  prize-fighting  was  quite 
universally  in  disrepute,  was  prohibited  by  law,  and 
a  contest  could  only  be  had  surreptitiously  in  some 
dark  corner,  or,  if  publicity  was  desired,  in  some  far 
western  wilderness.  The  war  changed  all  that;  and 
naturally  enough,  for  if  the  mighty  Yankee  nation 
could  properly  fall  foul  of  Spain,  strip  her  of  her 
possessions  and  pound  her  within  an  inch  of  her  life, 
there  could  be  nothing  so  very  reprehensible  in  two 
men  standing  up  before  an  assembly  and  trying  some- 
thing of  the  kind  on  each  other.  The  thing  began 
at  once  to  be  spoken  of  with  approval;  we  heard 
even  popular  clerg}^men  —  good  fellows,  too  —  freely 
say  they  "  would  like  to  see  a  prize-fight  pulled  off 
to  the  finish."  With  such  outspoken  encouragement 
from  the  pillars  of  society,  the  opportunity  was  not 
wanting;  or  if  there  was  still  some  lingering  question 
of  propriety  in  the  way,  these  respectable  sports  could 
regale  themselves  on  a  graphically  detailed  report  in 
the  morning  papers,  and  shortly  witness  a  kine- 
matographic  representation.  Happily  there  are  signs 
that  this  degradation  is  stayed.  In  most  of  our 
States  this  sort  of  entertainment  is  coming  to  be 
considered  reprehensible.  * 

As  between  peace  and  war,  a  preference  will 
commonly  be  expressed  for  peace,  but  only  a  prefer- 
ence. '  Ordinarily,'  we  are  told,  '  peace  is  the  better 
condition,  but  war,  too,  is  good  for  a  change.  It 
develops  courage,  fortitude,  pluck;  exalts  the  spirit 
of  patriotism;    makes  a  nation  great.     See  what  it 


234  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

did  for  Rome,  what  it  has  done  for  Germany,  for 
Japan ! '  But  we  must  remember  that  the  triumph 
of  one  nation  has  always  carried  with  it  the  humiha- 
tion  of  another;  that  a  gain  here  has  meant  a  loss 
there.  From  the  foundation  of  the  world,  in  the 
fierce  warring  of  the  nations,  as  of  cannibals,  the 
exigency  of  the  situation,  put  in  plain  words,  has  been, 
'  Eat,  or  be  eaten !  '  and  the  very  pertinent  question 
now  arises  whether  really  there  is  much  to  choose 
between  the  horns  of  this  hideous  dilemma.  As  for 
the  need  of  war  to  bring  out  any  high  traits  in  man, 
there  is  nothing  to  be  said  for  that  doctrine  which 
w'ould  not  also  be  an  argument  for  dueling,  for  street- 
fighting,  for  all  sorts  of  physical  combats.  Following 
that  line  of  reasoning  we  should  have  to  say  that 
certain  of  the  acts  that  take  men  to  the  penitentiary 
and  to  the  gallows  are  acts  conducive  to  the  develop- 
ment of  valuable  human  traits,  acts  that  lift  men 
out  of  their  effeminacy.  But  courts  commonly  take 
another  view,  though  some  governors  appear  to  grant 
pardons  on  some  such  theory. 

COST    OF    MILITARY    PREPARATIONS 

The  chancelleries  of  Europe  take  every  occasion  to 
express  their  confidence  in  the  continuation  of  peace, 
and  assure  us  that  their  constant  aim  is  to  assure 
that  end.  But  nobody  trusts  them,  and  least  of  all 
do  they  trust  one  another.  While  acclaiming  the 
perpetuity  of  peace  they  keep  right  on  straining  every 
nerve  in  elaborate  and  prodigiously  expensive  prep- 
arations for  war.     Not  the  dreaded  Napoleon  himself 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  235 

spent  for  armaments  one-half  what  any  one  of  the 
great  powers  is  now  spending  in  time  of  profound 
peace.  What  this  ever-climbing,  already  mountainous 
tax  is  coming  to  is  the  gravest  problem  in  politics 
to-day.  Under  the  conduct  of  the  present  governing 
parties,  or  any  parties  likely  soon  to  take  their  places, 
there  seems  no  chance  of  any  limit  being  set  to  war 
expenses  (even  when  there  is  no  war)  short  of  the 
complete  exhaustion  of  national  resources.  Germany 
aspires  to  snatch  from  England  her  proud  title  of 
"  mistress  of  the  seas,"  and  rivalry  in  the  building 
of  the  most  costly  structures  ever  put  afloat  grows 
more  and  more  intense.  It  is  coming  to  be  seriously 
asked  how  much  higher  naval  appropriations  can  be 
carried  without  invoking  an  economic  catastrophe. 
Indeed  it  may  well  be  asked  whether  right  here, 
rather  than  in  any  development  of  capitalism  in  the 
industries,  the  existing  order  of  society  is  not  rushing, 
as  if  impelled  by  an  irresistible  fate,  upon  its  own 
destruction.  The  craze  for  more  powerful  armaments 
dominates  the  governments,  carries  all  before  it,  ever 
augmenting  an  already  crushing  burden,  and  all  to  no 
purpose  so  far  as  making  any  relative  gain  in  strength 
is  concerned.  Apparently  there  is  no  end  to  it  save 
in  overwhelming  disaster. 

While  England  was  easily  the  richest,  most  re- 
sourceful of  the  powers,  her  naval  supremacy  looked 
unapproachable  and  was  quietly  acquiesced  in;  but 
now  that,  through  the  great  advance  in  the  art  of 
construction  which  makes  of  a  war-ship  little  less 
than  a  floating  fortress,  the  sea  has  come  to  outvie 


236  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  land  as  a  theater  of  military  operations,  and  now 
that  other  nations  have  become  as  rich  or  richer,  and 
greatly  more  populous,  there  is  disinclination  to  yield 
longer  to  her  boast  of  outranking  in  naval  strength 
any  two  other  powers  combined.  But  England  holds 
it  a  vital  necessity  of  her  insular  situation  to  maintain 
this  superiority,  and  she  will  double  the  home  taxes, 
call  on  her  colonies,  exploit  the  myriads  of  India  and 
Africa  to  their  last  shirt  and  their  last  mouthful  of 
rice,  sooner  than  renounce  her  proud  distinction. 
Remote  indeed,  so  long  as  the  present  order  of  things 
endures,  is  the  possibility  of  any  agreement  restricting 
military  preparations.  The  thing  to  fear  is  that, 
wearied  out  with  the  burden  of  these  colossal  expendi- 
tures, rulers  and  tax-payers  will  imbibe  the  spirit  of 
jingoism,  and  unleash  the  dogs  of  war,  —  driven  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  cheaper,  more  practicable  to  sweep 
other  fleets  from  the  sea  than  to  go  on  increasing  the 
strength  of  their  own  at  such  a  ruinous  rate. 

That  this  is  a  strong  and  growing  English  feeling 
toward  Germany,  reciprocated  ardently  by  the  belli- 
cose government  of  that  country  and  prompting  a 
feverish  haste  in  making  ready  for  the  onset,  is  only 
too  apparent.  Do  we  need  to  wait  for  the  outbreak 
of  hostilities  to  be  convinced  of  the  sheer  sophistry 
of  the  talk  we  hear  to  the  effect  that  the  surest  way 
to  keep  the  peace  unbroken  is  to  multiply  the  prep- 
arations for  war?  That  foolishness  is  of  a  piece 
with  the  pretense  that  unless  we  have  a  fight  now 
and  then  we  must  all  become  chicken-hearted  pol- 
troons. 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  237 

THE    SOCIALIST    ATTITUDE    AND    THE    GROUNDS    OF    IT 

In  the  midst  of  these  precarious  conditions  there 
is  one  party,  and  only  one,  that  everywhere  stands 
for  peace.  That  is  the  sociaHst  party.  The  carry- 
ing out  of  its  programme  would  take  away  all  occa- 
sion for  war,  would  mean  the  abolition  of  standing 
armies,  put  an  end  to  the  building  of  war-ships,  make 
frowning  fortifications  look  as  antiquated  and  useless 
as  ruined  castles  on  the  Rhine.  In  the  meantime  and 
while  the  great  ruling  parties,  countenanced  by  bishops 
and  other  clergy,  delay  the  hour  "when  swords  shall  be 
beaten  into  ploughshares"  and  cannon  rolled  into  build- 
ing material,  socialists  are,  to  the  best  of  their  ability^ 
opposing  war  and  all  that  makes  for  war.  This  opposi- 
tion has  its  special  grounds  which  may  be  pointed  out. 

1.  Socialists  are  an  international  party,  a  fact  which 
puts  them  morally  head  and  shoulders  above  parties 
which  are  only  national,  provincial,  local.  They  are 
of  a  world-wide  fellowship,  a  brotherhood  of  the 
toilers  of  every  land;  and  it  does  not  accord  w^th 
their  feelings  or  their  sense  of  propriety  to  be  forced, 
and  to  have  some  of  these  brothers  forced,  into  mu- 
tually hostile  armies,  in  due  time  to  be  set  face  to 
face,  and,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  their  gov- 
ernors have  fallen  out,  be  made  to  "  shoot  the  souls 
out  of  one  another."  The  proceeding  takes  on  an 
appearance  hideously  like  murdering  one's  own 
household.  For  these  men,  it  may  be,  have  met  and 
counseled  together  in  international  assemblies,  found 
themselves    holding   the   same   views,    stirred   by   the 


238  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

same  hopes  for  the  human  world,  consecrated  by  a 
hke  devotion  to  one  and  the  same  cause ;  at  any  rate 
they  have  been  swept  by  the  spirit  of  this  universal 
movement,  and  if  their  bodies  have  never  crossed  the 
frontier,  their  minds  have.  They  know  that  theirs 
is  a  fraternity  of  all  nations.  And  just  this  experi- 
ence has  largely  unfitted  them  for  the  calhng  of 
arms.  And  not  only  so,  it  has  brought  them  to  feel 
that  the  calling  is  one  to  which,  except  under  the 
most  extraordinary  circumstances,  the  least  possible 
service  should  be  given  by  anybody.  Nations,  they 
will  think,  should  come  into  closer  relations  with  one 
another,  develop  mutual  sympathies,  form  alliances, 
establish  international  courts  and  congresses,  set  up 
machinery  for  settling  their  misunderstandings,  anal- 
ogous to  that  to  which  individuals  resort  in  their 
disagreements. 

Because  socialists  have  this  wider  view  they  are 
impatient  of  the  system  which  perpetuates  into  our 
day  the  old  barbaric  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  which 
practically  gives  the  case  to  the  physically  stronger 
on  his  own  terms  —  proceeding  void  of  even  a  sem- 
blance of  justice,  and  characterized  from  the  begin- 
ning by  shameless  conquest,  perfidy,  and  outrage. 

2.  In  the  next  place  the  working-man  is  not  such 
a  devoted  vassal  as  he  once  was;  not  so  self-eflfacing 
in  the  service  of  the  high  and  mighty.  He  is  coming 
to  see  that  wars  are  generally  waged  in  the  interest 
of  princes  and  politicians;  that  while  the  poor  man 
bears  the  brunt  and  takes  the  peril,  the  rich  get  the 
prizes  if  there  are  any.     As  his  eyes  are  opened  to 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  239 

the  one-sidedness  of  this  arrangement,  he  naturally 
shrinks  from  entering  into  it.  'If  anybody  is  to  fight,' 
he  says,  '  let  those  do  it  who  have  something  to  gain 
by  it.  Why  should  they  call  on  me  ? '  The  poor  man, 
however,  has  no  choice  in  the  matter;  he  is  in  the 
hands  of  his  masters,  and  they  will  do  with  him  what 
they  will.  So  when  war  breaks  out,  there  he  is  in 
the  ranks,  contrary  to  his  choice  as  it  may  be.  But 
that  does  not  prevent  his  having  his  opinions  on  the 
subject,  nor  always  prevent  his  expressing  them.  For 
example,  as  is  well  known,  many  thousands  in  the 
French  army  are  pronouncedly  anti-militarist,  and  no 
little  apprehension  is  felt  by  the  government  as  to 
the  use  they  will  make  of  their  guns  if  ever  they 
are  brought  into  battle.  What  did  any  war  ever  avail 
to  the  common  soldier?  In  substantial  results,  noth- 
ing, verily,  beyond  a  possible  pension.  The  sole  pre- 
tense is  that  the  service  covers  him,  even  in  death, 
with  inestimable  reward  —  wreaths  of  undying  glory. 
That  sounding  phrase  is  as  hollow  as  the  heads  of 
the  militant  orators  from  whose  mouths  it  flows,  as 
hollow  as  the  drums  whose  beating  drowns  the  groans 
of  agonizing  thousands;  and  people  whose  ancestors 
died  unhonored  and  sleep  forgotten  on  many  a  battle- 
field are  wondering  how  anybody  was  ever  deceived 
by  such  pompous  nonsense.  What  glory  there  was 
in  the  fighting  went  to  the  commanders,  and  only 
they  have  so  much  as  their  names  rem.embered.  The 
day  is  coming  when  even  they,  for  the  most  part, 
may  well  wish  that  they  too  had  been  forgotten  with 
all  the  humble  whom  they  led  to  death.     As  for  the 


240  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

socialist  working-man,  he  has  attained  the  discretion 
to  discount  at  100  per  cent,  the  talk  about  war  cover- 
ing his  kind  with  imperishable  glory. 

3.  The  socialist  is  also  averse  to  war  because  to 
him  it  is  unseemly  and  immoral.  He  reprobates  it 
as  a  heightened  and  intensified  form  of  the  evils 
ordinarily  seen  in  the  present  social  system.  In  times 
of  what  we  call  peace  men  are  relentlessly  preying 
upon  one  another,  waging  a  bloodless  sort  of  war- 
fare, gathering  up  booty,  worsting  or  getting  worsted, 
plucking  or  being  plucked.  But  over  it  all  is  spread 
a  covering  of  civility,  even  of  Christian  grace  and 
charity.  Whatever  lying,  trickery,  injustice,  heart- 
lessness  is  practiced,  there  is  maintained  a  theory  of 
uprightness,  of  truth,  of  honor,  of  generosity  even; 
the  tribute  of  hypocrisy  to  virtue  is  lavishly,  osten- 
tatiously paid.  The  man  who  beats  you  out  of  your 
last  dollar  to-day,  will  subscribe  liberally  to-morrow 
to  some  benevolent  object,  of  which,  perhaps,  he 
knows  nothing,  but  which  you  know  to  be  worthy. 
But  war  lays  off  this  fine  veil  of  seemly  form,  is 
avowedly,  unblushingly,  as  bad  in  profession  as  in 
practice,  frankly  deceptive,  rapacious,  blood-thirsty; 
robbing  and  killing  to  the  utmost.  So  the  socialist 
opposes  it  as  an  exaggeration  of  what  is  worst  in 
society  as  seen  from  day  to  day  —  the  overreaching, 
the  underhandedness,  the  deceit  in  business,  the  con- 
tention of  rivals,  the  bitterness  of  competition  where 
it  is  bad,  and  the  crushing  of  it  where  it  is  good. 

Socialism,  when  it  comes  to  be  realized  in  the  world, 
will  abolish  war  for  good  and  all,  by  abolishing  the 


Socialism  Universal  Peace  241 

causes  of  war.  It  will  take  away  from  any  man  or 
coterie  the  terrible  power  to  precipitate  a  conflict  put- 
ting in  jeopardy  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  millions. 
It  will  enthrone  the  democracy,  while  at  the  same 
time  seeing  to  it  that  the  democracy  is  enlightened 
beyond  the  danger  of  being  captured  by  designing 
demagogues.  It  will  take  down  the  tariff  walls  now 
built  about  most  nations  —  menacing  sign  of  unfriend- 
liness —  leaving  all  peoples  free  to  exchange  any  good 
thing  of  which  they  produce  a  surplus  for  whatever 
else  they  most  need.  By  the  same  act  it  will  remove 
the  dangerous  rivalry  of  the  nations  for  the  trade 
of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  unrestricted  friendly  inter- 
course giving  all  products  the  chance  to  find  their 
market  where  they  are  most  wanted.  It  will  make 
a  community  of  nations,  with  a  World  Congress  to 
confirm  or  reject  laws  of  international  import,  and  a 
High  Court  of  the  Nations  to  dispose  of  all  grievances. 
These  bodies  will  have  no  such  overwhelming  task  as 
would  come  to  them  under  circumstances  now  exist- 
ing; as,  in  fact,  will  be  the  case  with  all  legislative 
and  jural  functionaries.  The  political  State  will  de- 
cline in  importance  as  the  social-industrial  State  rises, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  international  differences  will 
come  to  be  of  rare  occurrence  and  of  easy  adjust- 
ment. The  new  harmony  between  the  nations  will  be 
of  the  same  nature  and  derive  from  the  same  sources 
as  the  harmony  to  be  established  between  individuals 
when  the  artificial  incitements  to  envy  and  greed, 
covetousness  and  grasping,  robbery  and  murder  are 
abolished. 


CHAPTER  X 
SOCIALISM  THE  ENFRANCHISEMENT  OF  WOMAN 

We  have  seen  in  a  general  way  something  of  the 
pernicious  effect  of  the  present  system  of  society  on 
the  ways  of  men,  the  distressing  contrasts  it  produces 
among  them,  the  handicap  a  sensitive  conscience  is 
in  the  struggle  for  the  prizes,  the  inevitable  crowding 
of  the  scrupulous  souls  and  weaker  frames  to  the 
wall.  It  remains  to  point  out  how,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  these  adverse  results  fall  with  the  greatest 
severity  upon  women,  and  how  their  situation  calls 
loudest  of  all  for  the  great  economic  reformation. 

With  the  iniquity  inherent  in  its  nature,  capitalism 
bears  hardest  upon  the  most  defenseless,  rewards 
those  least  who  do  the  most  repulsive  tasks,  tramples 
with  extremest  heartlessness  upon  those  whose  abject 
dependence  bars  them  from  making  even  a  protesting 
outcry.  So  the  system,  which  has  no  conscience  and 
no  consciousness,  seizes  upon  the  whole  feminine  half 
of  humanity  as  particularly  suited  to  exploitation. 
Given  the  system,  the  sad  fact  is  unescapable,  and, 
like  all  the  other  miseries  entailed  thereby,  is  charge- 
able to  individuals  only  in  a  measure  and  in  its  worst 
excesses.  Woman,  normally  more  sensitive  in  spirit, 
more  delicate  in  physique  than  her  brothers,  enters 
little  into  the  scramble  for  wealth,  seldom  becomes 
a  capitalist  employer  of  labor,  is  largely  barred  from 
the  ambitious  activities  to  which  men  not  hopelessly 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  IVoman     243 

weighted  down  are  apt  to  aspire.  She  is  very  in- 
frequently seen  conducting  a  business  of  any  sort. 
Even  the  shops  exclusively  patronized  by  women,  and 
where  women  do  all  the  work,  are  usually  owned 
and  managed  by  men.  Caring  for  her  own  property, 
if  she  has  any  considerable  amount,  is  more  than 
meets  the  approval  of  her  advisers ;  and  to  have  an 
office  and  regular  business-hours  causes  general  remark 
and  subjects  her  to  the  imputation  of  masculinity, 
which  is  more  than  she  can  well  stand.  Hindrances 
of  a  more  formidable  sort  block  the  way  to  a  pro- 
fession. To  be  sure  she  can  teach  in  primary  and 
secondary  schools;  but,  though  apt  to  be  more  gifted 
in  imparting  instruction  than  are  men,  she  rarely 
advances  to  a  college  position  no  matter  how  superior 
her  qualifications.  The  way  into  the  legal  profession 
and  the  way  into  the  pulpit  are  almost  closed  to  her; 
and  the  practice  of  medicine  is  only  somewhat  less 
exclusively  a  masculine  preserve  hedged  about  by 
custom.  To  shut  her  out  from  much  activity  in 
politics  the  ballot  is  almost  everywhere  withheld  from 
her,  and  with  it  eligibility  to  office.  This  has  the 
double  result  of  narrowing  the  range  of  her  thought 
and  rendering  nugatory  any  influence  she  may  seek 
to  exert  on  the  powers  that  be ;  for  legislators  and 
other  officials  are  directly  answerable  only  to  the 
voters,  and  feel  bound  to  show  to  non-voters  nothing 
beyond  courtesy,  —  in  which  negative  attitude  they 
will  feel  braced  by  any  lack  of  astuteness  betrayed  by 
the  disfranchised  class,  all  unpracticed  in  politics  as 
they  are. 


244  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

DISCRIMINATION    AGAINST    WOMEN    AS    WAGE-EARNERS 

Unmarried  women  in  great  part,  practically  all  who 
are  not  in  the  enjoyment  of  some  financial  independ- 
ence, are  wage-earners,  dependent  beyond  any  corre- 
sponding class  of  men  in  the  degree  that  their  wages 
are  less.  The  lower  the  wage  the  nearer  life  is  to 
slavery,  and  the  shame  of  the  age  is  that  everywhere 
for  identical  service  women  get  less  pay  than  men. 
Whatever  the  work,  however  the  nature  of  it  precludes 
the  possibility  that  it  can  be  better  done  by  men, 
discrimination  more  or  less  pronounced  is  made.  In 
printing-offices  women's  work  cannot  be  much  less 
worth  than  men's,  but  reports  show  a  wide  disparity  in 
the  wages  of  the  sexes.  From  Great  Britain  we  have 
these  examples :  "  In  Perth  and  Bungay  the  women 
put  in  a  bill  at  the  end  of  each  week,  worked  out 
on  the  men's  scale  of  rates.  The  cashier  then  divides 
the  total  by  two  and  pays  the  women  accordingly. 
In  Edinburgh  women's  piece-rates  for  composing 
average  about  two-thirds  those  of  men.  At  Warring- 
ton women  do  machine  ruling  for  prices  ranging  from 
15s.  to  20s.,  whilst  men  are  paid  32s.  for  same  work."  ♦ 
A  Manchester  employer  estimated  that  in  a  printers 
and  stationers'  warehouse  a  woman  is  two-thirds  as 
valuable  as  a  man,  at  the  same  time  admitting  that 
he  paid  the  women  half  as  much  as  the  men.  But 
women,  single  and  married,  are  glad  to  get  even  a 


*  IVovien  in  the  Printing  Trades,  p.  47. 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     245 

moiety  of  what  men  are  paid  in  this  trade,  as  that 
amounts  to  more  than  they  can  earn  in  most  calUngs. 
In  the  thirty-one  divisions  of  labor  into  which  the 
making  of  cycles  and  accessories  is  classified,  the 
average  weekly  earnings  of  girls  under  eighteen  run 
from  5s.  6d.  to  9s.  2d. ;  those  of  girls  over  eighteen 
and  married  women,  from  10s.  to  12s.  In  some  of 
the  thirty-two  divisions  of  labor  with  jewelers  and 
silversmiths,  girls  under  eighteen  average  4s.  and  less 
a  week,  the  older  ones  in  some  of  the  other  divisions 
averaging  as  low  as  9s.  ''  It  is  generally  taken  for 
granted  both  by  men  and  women  that  a  man  ought 
to  receive  more  than  a  woman.  .  .  .  The  woman 
earns  less  than  the  man,  not  merely  because  she 
necessarily  produces  less,  but  apparently  because  her 
wages  are  fixed  at  a  comparatively  lower  level  just 
because  she  is  a  woman.  .  .  .  Whatever  the 
reason  why  the  rate  is  not  higher,  the  fact  seems  to 
be  that  the  limit  is  set  against  further  reduction  of 
women's  wages  by  the  sorry  fact  that  the  very 
existence  of  the  women  as  workers  demands  at  least 
the  present  level,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  even  the 
present  level  is  not  sufficient  for  a  girl  or  woman  to 
realize  the  standard  of  comfort  of  the  working  classes, 
low  though  that  is,  unless  the  woman  is  subsidized  to 
some  extent,  or  gets  a  further  income  in  some  way  or 
other.  Any  one  acquainted  with  working-class  life 
knows  the  low  standard  to  which  the  widow,  or  the 
single  girl  left  without  friends,  is  obliged  to  adhere."  * 


*  Women's  Work  and  Wages,  pp.  134,  136. 


246  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Because  in  most  industries  women  can  be  hired  to 
do  a  given  amount  of  work  for  considerably  less  than 
men's  wages,  there  results  to  some  extent  a  displace- 
ment of  men  to  make  room  for  them.  Stenography, 
for  example,  has  almost  wholly  gone  into  their  hands, 
because  of  the  reduction  of  expenses  effected  for 
employers.  In  some  of  the  productive  industries 
tendency  to  a  similar  transference  has  been  noted. 
Bebel  quotes  from  the  Lewiston  (Maine)  Journal  a 
curious  illustration  of  the  consequences :  "  One  of 
the  features  of  the  factory  towns  of  Maine  is  a  class 
of  men  that  may  be  termed  '  housekeepers.'  In  almost 
every  town  where  much  factory  work  is  done  these 
men  are  to  be  found  in  large  numbers.  Whoever 
calls  shortly  before  noon  will  find  them  with  aprons 
tied  in  front,  washing  dishes.  At  other  hours  of  the 
day  they  can  be  seen  scrubbing,  making  the  beds, 
washing  the  children,  tidying  up  the  place,  or  cook- 
ing." In  explanation  of  this  social  phenomenon  we 
are  told  that  the  wives  have  employment  in  the 
factories.  Bebel  says  the  same  thing  happens  in 
Germany  also.  *  But  it  may  be  questioned  that  the 
husbands  either  in  Germany  or  in  England,  even  when 
out  of  employment,  turn  their  hands  much  to  house- 
work. Where  the  woman  works  in  a  factory  through 
the  day,  according  to  English  testimony,  "  she  accepts 
it  as  right  that  she  should  do  all  the  housework  at 
night  while  the  man  amuses  himself   in  any  way  he 


*  Woman   under   Socialism,   p.    170.     Singularly   misleading 
title    of    an    eminently    successful    book    which    says    next   to 

nothing   of   woman   under   socialism. 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     247 

thinks  fit.  And  often  where  a  working-man  assists 
his  wife  in  household  duties  he  does  not  Hke  his  mates 
to  know."  * 

GENERAL    DISLIKE    OF    DOMESTIC    SERVICE 

In  our  country  where  the  native  young  working- 
people,  whether  men  or  women,  have  not  to  any  great 
extent  come  frankly  to  accept  a  life  of  drudgery, 
there  is  a  strong  disposition  to  avoid  the  trades  and 
take  to  employments  rated  more  genteel,  or  at  least 
less  in  the  nature  of  common  manual  toil.  There  is 
with  our  young  women  a  marked  disinclination  to 
domestic  service,  notwithstanding  its  offer  of  com- 
paratively good  wages,  and  to  all  kinds  of  handiwork 
which,  taking  them  out  of  the  current  of  life,  doom 
them  to  a  humdrum  existence  and  the  badge  of  ser- 
vility. If  they  are  to  serve  they  prefer  to  do  it 
under  circumstances  that  obscure  rather  than  pro- 
claim the  fact  —  in  a  restaurant  where  there  is  bustle, 
and  the  servant  is  lost  in  the  crowd  of  the  served. 
The  place  of  saleswoman,  poorly  as  it  is  generally 
paid,  has  its  attractions ;  its  show  of  some  democratic 
equality  gives  a  sense  of  being  in  the  world.  The 
great  stores  are  overrun  with  applicants  for  any  place, 
and  have  need  to  offer  only  the  most  derisory  salaries. 
But  how  is  a  young  woman,  who  must  at  least  be 
presentably  gowned,  to  live  on  a  merely  nominal 
stipend  of  three  or  four  dollars  a  week?  It  is  clearly 
impossible  to  do  it  unless  she  has  a  home  with  parents 


*  Women's  Work  and  Wages,  p.   137. 


248  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

or  friends.  For  those  not  so  subsidized  the  situation 
is  beset  with  perils  so  grave  as  to  constitute  in  itself 
—  considering  the  nature  of  the  average  man  and 
of  men  below  the  average  —  a  priori  ground  of 
suspicion,  multiplying  out  of  bounds  the  unprofit- 
ableness of  it. 

Out  of  these  straits  in  which  certainly  many  find 
themselves,  if  one  is  not  to  fall  into  the  trap  which 
capitalism  sets  for  the  feet  of  the  unwary,  there  is 
ordinarily  but  one  way  of  escape,  and  that  is  by 
the  gate  of  matrimony  —  an  escape  that  may  or  may 
not  prove  worth  making.  The  misery  of  the  poor 
woman's  lot  lies  in  her  dependence,  and  from  this 
she  is  not  always  delivered  in  getting  a  husband. 
The  form  of  it  is  changed,  but  it  remains  an  evil. 
The  wife  is  seldom  made  to  feel  that  she  by  her 
household-toil  is  a  contributor  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  family ;  unless  she  finds  a  "  gainful  "  occupation, 
the  husband  is  called  and  considers  himself  the  bread- 
winner, sole  support  of  the  household,  though  his 
work  be  greatly  less  repellent  and  less  prolonged  than 
hers,  and  no  whit  more  indispensable.  The  social 
organism,  in  the  prevailing  conception,  instead  of 
being  socialistic,  as  the  term  would  imply,  having  the 
family  as  its  unit,  is  individualistic ;  that  is,  has  the 
individual  for  its  starting-point.  Moreover,  that  in- 
dividual is  the  man ;  woman  at  most  is  an  accessory. 
This  conception  is  of  the  essence  of  selfishness,  con- 
templates no  interest  of  the  race  or  of  the  community, 
takes  the  family  for  an  obstruction  to  the  main 
purpose,    a    burden,    into    the    assumption    of    which 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     249 

Nature  decoys  the  unsuspecting  for  ends  which  are 
widely  removed  from  the  individual  concernment. 

SOCIAL  DISTINCTIONS  SHARPEST  AMONG   WOMEN 

Society  in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  word  is 
woman's  particular  field,  but  society  in  this  sense  rests 
on  individual  tastes  and  ambitions,  personal  aims, 
likings,  attachments,  which  form  coteries  but  not 
communities,  are  affiliative  within  definitely  limited 
circles,  divisive  in  an  unlimited  beyond.  Without  the 
motives  to  seek  wide  acquaintanceship  and  cordial 
relations  with  the  largest  possible  number  of  persons 
which  political  and  business  sagacity  naturally  awakens 
in  men,  women  are  led  by  wholly  other  motives  to 
pride  themselves  on  the  selectness,  the  exclusiveness 
of  their  circle  of  acquaintance,  and  so  live  much 
more  closely  hemmed-in  by  social  distinctions.  There 
results  a  social  differentiation  of  the  sexes  generally 
observable,  and  coming  out  very  decidedly  here  and 
there. 

Coming  into  the  possession  of  wealth  usually  makes 
no  great  change  in  the  bearing  of  a  man  toward  other 
men;  we  do  not  expect  to  see  him  putting  on  airs 
of  superiority,  forsaking  old  friends,  showing  any 
aloofness  to  old  associates ;  he  will  not  ordinarily 
become  idle  or  indolent,  or  suddenly  require  a  bevy 
of  servants  to  attend  to  his  personal  wants.  He  is 
apt  to  work  harder  even  than  before ;  his  cares  are 
greater,  his  concerns  more  important.  But  the  reverse 
of  all  this  is  likely  to  happen  with  his  wife.  And  so 
the  modifications  in  the  two  personalities  consequent 


250  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

upon  the  same  cause  are  widely  different.  Both  are 
changed,  but  in  ways  how  unhke !  Can  there  be  any 
question  that  the  man's  development  is  more  normal 
than  the  woman's? 

PRESENT  DISPARITY   OF   THE   SEXES   IN    MENTAL    POWER 
WHENCE   IT    COMES   AND    HOW    TO   ABOLISH    IT 

Looking  on  the  world  as  it  is,  seeing  the  work 
done  by  the  two  sexes,  what  they  each  are  ready 
to  undertake,  what  they  each  accomplish,  it  is  hard 
for  even  the  most  chivalrous  to  withhold  in  his  own 
heart  (however  he  may  refrain  from  voicing)  assent 
to  the  verdict  some  one  now  and  then  is  blunt  enough 
to  render,  that  woman  is  the  inferior  party.  We 
are  not,  however,  absolutely  left  to  this  disagreeable 
conclusion.  What,  beyond  reasonable  dispute  has 
happened  under  the  forms  of  society  that  have  pre- 
vailed, and  especially  under  the  capitalist  regime,  is 
a  great  distortion  of  the  female  type.  Granted  that 
the  average  woman  shows  a  mental  grasp  below  that 
of  the  average  man,  the  fact  is  amply  accounted  for 
by  the  limited  use  of  her  faculties  to  which  social 
conditions  have  restricted  her.  Without  asserting  that 
acquired  aptitudes  of  mind  in  one  sex  tend  to  be 
transmitted  to  that  sex,  *  it  is  plain  that  a  special 
course  of  discipline  in  youth,  and  rigorously  distinct 


*  This,  however,  is  not  to  be  construed  as  a  questioning  of 
that  contention.  Sex  heredity,  ;.  e.,  the  tendency  of  boys  to 
inherit  the  qualities  of  the  father,  girls  the  qualities  of  the 
mother,  seems  to  be  fairly  well  established.  For  a  full  dis- 
cussion of  the  matter  see  Dr.  Densmore's  Sex  Equality. 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     251 

occupations,  opportunities,  and  privileges  in  life,  must 
create  marked  differences.  The  sex  that  as  a  whole 
suffers  abridgment  of  its  theater  of  action,  of  its 
rights  and  privileges,  must  of  necessity,  as  a  whole, 
show  the  effect  in  diminished  power  of  thought,  in 
puerilities  and  "  effeminacies,"  which  .the  other  sex 
may  take  note  of,  but  cannot  deride  without  self- 
stultification,  once  the  cause  is  made  apparent. 
Women  have  so  long  been  debarred  from  the  ac- 
tivities which  most  call  for  and  develop  strength 
of  mind,  that  strong-mindedness,  proud  a  quality  as 
it  is  to  predicate  of  a  man,  applied  to  a  woman  is, 
and  has  been  since  the  word  was  invented,  a  term 
of  reproach.  So  it  remains,  notwithstanding  the 
pains  we  are  taking,  regardless  of  cost,  to  give  our 
girls  equal  opportunities  with  the  boys  for  education 
in  the  schools  —  education  whose  one  legitimate  pur- 
pose is  to  give  strength  of  mind. 

The  utility  of  this  training  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  to  speak  within  bounds,  is  called  in  question  by 
the  lack  of  occasion  to  make  more  than  a  very  limited 
use  of  either  the  knowledge  or  the  discipline  acquired. 
Possibly  the  girl  graduate  may  become  a  better  wife 
and  mother  for  her  studies,  but  her  course  of  study 
is  no  more  arranged  for  that  end  than  the  boy's  is 
for  making  a  good  husband  and  father.  The  course 
for  both  contemplates  a  preparation  for  the  duties 
of  citizenship,  conduct  of  public  as  well  as  private 
affairs;  fits  for,  or  at  least  leads  up  toward,  some 
professional  career.  To  the  young  man  college  train- 
ing is  a  step  directly  forward  into  an  active  life;    to 


252  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  young  woman  it  generally  brings  up  to  nothing 
in  particular;  she  is  apt  to  find  the  way  blocked  to 
services  for  which  her  education  has  specially  fitted 
her,  and  as  a  consequence  can  only  drop  back  into  the 
common,  aimless  life  from  which  she  may  have  hoped 
to  emerge.  What  is  left  to  her  is  what  custom  leaves 
to  practically  the  whole  sisterhood :  petty  social 
affairs,  the  art  of  dressing,  the  study  of  fashions, 
the  reading  of  novels,  if  she  is  an  heiress ;  otherwise, 
household  toil,  various  handiwork,  school-teaching, 
possibly  authorship  if  she  has  the  knack,  as  one  in 
ten  thousand  may  have ;  for  the  great  mass  not  much 
that   is   inspiriting,   ennobling. 

COMMERCIALIZING    THE    SEX-RELATION 

The  upshot  of  it  all  is  a  pretty  much  universal 
feeling  of  dependence,  which  is  chiefly  responsible 
for  the  sordid,  calculating  motive  to  marriage  so 
controlling  in  these  days.  To  say  that  a  woman  has 
"  done  well  "  matrimonially  means  first  of  all  that  she 
has  caught  a  husband  able  to  support  her.  Not  but 
that  the  case  may  be  reversed,  whatever  may  be 
thought  of  it ;  not  that  men  are  above  "  marrying 
money,"  though  this  is  felt  to  be  more  particularly 
the  woman's  role,  she  being  supposed  to  have  in  her 
charms  something  to  ofiPset  the  cash.  Hence  the 
exercise  of  sex-fascination  is  the  end  to  which  in 
our  boasted  civilization  all  female  nurture,  discipline, 
culture,  art,  and  artifice  lead  up. 

That  in  this  business  there  is  great  demoralization, 
that  open  and  hideous  vice  takes  its   heavy  tribute, 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     253 

that  abominations  unspeakable  develop  and  flourish, 
—  these  are  matters  of  course.  Woman  in  her  pitiable 
dependence,  in  her  weakness  induced  by  social  con- 
ditions, treated  as  a  "  cross  between  angel  and  idiot," 
flattered,  courted,  exploited,  trodden  under  foot,  bears, 
and  has  borne  through  the  ages,  the  awful  burden 
of  a  world's  sins.  And  to  cap  all,  to  these  admitted 
horrors  must  be  added  the  further  admission,  in 
theory  and  in  practice  on  all  hands  fully  and  freely 
made,  that  under  the  existing  social  system  there  is 
absolutely   no    remedy. 

The  situation  has  been  struggled  with  time  out  of 
mind.  All  that  religion,  civil  authority,  private  and 
organized  philanthropy,  could  do,  under  the  condi- 
tions, has  been  done,  and  yet  the  demi-monde,  as  the 
ironical  term  is,  has  probably  not  been  reduced  in 
dimensions  even  relatively  to  the  whole  population 
one  iota.  No  iniquity  resorted  to  in  old  Roman  days 
to  replenish  it  but  that  has  been,  and  is  being,  out- 
done all  around  this  Christian  world.  Bebel  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago  pointed  to  the  crime  of  white 
slavery,  *    showing  it  up  as   the  legitimate  offspring 


* "  The  traffic  in  female  flesh  has  assumed  mammoth  pro- 
portions. It  is  conducted  on  a  most  extensive  scale,  and  is 
most  admirably  organized  in  the  very  midst  of  the  seats  of 
civilization  and  culture,  rarely  attracting  the  notice  of  the 
police.  A  swarm  of  brokers,  agents,  carriers,  male  and 
female,  ply  the  trade  with  the  same  unconcern  as  if  they 
dealt  in  any  other  merchandise.  Birth  ceitilicates  are  forged, 
and  bills  of  lading  are  drawn  up  with  accurate  descriptions 
of  the  quaHfications  of  the  several  'articles'  and  are  handed 
over  to  the   carriers   as   directions    for  the   purchasers.     As 


254  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  capitalism,  telling  of  the  extent  to  which  it  was 
then  carried,  and  how  his  own  Germany  was  being 
ravaged,  as  was  Africa  by  a  previous  generation  of 
slave-hunters,  to  furnish  supplies  for  the  hideous 
trade ;  and  still,  in  spite  of  prohibitory  laws  and 
organized  effort  to  stamp  out  the  traffic,  it  goes  on 
as  then,  only  a  little  more  under  cover,  a  monstrous 
feature  of  the  existing  order  of  things. 

If  we  look  things  squarely  in  the  face  and  speak 
out  plainly  we  shall  see  and  admit  that  the  unspeak- 
able horror  of  this  thing,  as  of  the  whole  blot  of 
prostitution,  has  some  faint  reflection,  to  say  the  least, 
in  the  way  marriages  are  not  uncommonly  contracted 
in  our  respectable  society.  Wives,  to  be  sure,  are 
not  in  so  many  words  bought  and  sold,  but  in  how 
many  cases  does  the  union  of  a  pair  turn  on  financial 
considerations !  How  often  is  a  marriage  determined 
by  the  gain  in  fortune  it  will  bring  to  one  or  the 
other  party !  And  when  this  betterment  is  the  main 
or  sole  reason  for  entering  into  "  holy  matrimony," 
how  is  the  proceeding  not  a  moral  abomination,  in 
its  measure  comparable  to  that  we  have  been  con- 
sidering? As  Dr.  Densmore  well  says:  "To  be  free 
from   all   commercial   taint   it   is   necessary   that  one 


with  all  merchandise,  the  price  depends  upon  the  quality,  and 
the  several  categories  are  assorted  and  consigned  according 
to  the  taste  and  requirements  of  the  customers  in  different 
places  and  countries.  The  slyest  manipulations  are  resorted 
to  in  order  to  evade  the  snares  and  escape  the  vigilance  of 
the  police ;  not  infrequently  large  sums  of  money  are  used 
to  shut  the  eyes  of  the  guardians  of  the  law."  —  Woman 
under  Socialism,  p.  157. 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     255 

seeking  an  ideal  marriage,  whether  the  seeker  be  man 
or  woman,  be  in  a  position  of  financial  independence, 
inherited  or  acquired.  .  .  .  Custom  and  precedent 
have  much  to  do  with  our  perception  of  right  and 
wrong.  Since  our  otherwise  most  advanced  people 
give  their  daughters  to  husbands  who  are  able  or 
who  promise  to  provide  a  comfortable  living,  the 
custom  of  bartering  them  on  this  basis  has  become 
established ;  and  while  multitudes  of  mothers  are 
seeking  such  bargains  for  their  daughters,  multitudes 
of  daughters  are  co-operating  in  such  pursuit,  both 
without  thinking  —  custom  has  so  blinded  them  —  of 
the  similarity  of  their  quest  to  that  "  social  evil  "  so 
repugnant  that  we  instinctively  shrink  from  pronoun- 
cing its  name.  .  .  Without  financial  independence 
or  adequate  earning  power,  a  woman  often  finds 
herself  in  the  dilemma  of  either  accepting  a  worldly 
marriage  unsanctified  by  love,  or  facing  penury  with 
all  the  misery  it  entails.  ...  In  whatever  light 
this  matter  is  viewed,  and  however  unpleasant  the 
thought,  it  is  obvious  that  there  is  some  analogy 
betw^een  the  social  evil  and  that  marriage  which  the 
woman  has  sought  as  a  means  of  livelihood.  One 
is  a  temporary  promiscuous  relation,  the  other  is 
sought  by  the  woman  as  a  permanent  relation,  and 
while  on  her  part  usually  free  from  promiscuity,  it 
nevertheless  remains  true  that  both  these  relations 
are  sought  by  woman  as  a  source  of  gain,  or  broadly 
as  a  means  of  livelihood.  Surely  this  is  a  condition 
to  be  deplored  by  every  right-thinking,  pure-minded 
person.     It  will  be  seen  on  analysis  that  this  stage 


256  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  dependence  and  quasi-slavery  on  the  part  of  the 
woman  carries  in  its  train  a  blight  not  unhke  that 
engendered  by  Negro-slavery.  .  .  ,  And  as  the 
former  slave-holder  rejoices  to-day  that  Negro-slavery 
has  been  abolished,  will  not  the  day  come  when  the 
very  men  who  now  would  be  most  shocked  to  see 
their  wives  or  sisters  or  daughters  engaged  in  gain- 
ful pursuits,  will  be  the  first  to  rejoice  in  the  full 
emancipation   of  woman?"* 

SOCIALISM  THE  ONE  HOPE  OF  WOMAN  IN  THESE  STRAITS 

Full  emancipation  is  possible  only  through  financial 
independence,  and  this  can  hardly  be  acquired  by 
woman  so  long  as  occupations  for  which  she  is  or 
can  be  fitted  are  closed  to  her,  or  open  only  at  lower 
wages  than  are  paid  men  for  the  same  work.  This 
adverse  discrimination  must  be  done  away  with,  and 
that  just  equality  of  conditions  established  which  in- 
clines to  favor  rather  than  to  exploit  the  weaker  party. 
Certain  it  is  that  women  are  never  going  to  effect 
such  a  revolution  for  themselves.  They  have  neither 
the  power  nor  the  class-instinct  requisite  to  accom- 
plish it.  The  only  sure  promise  of  its  coming  is 
through  the  triumph  of  socialism,  the  one  world-wide 
political  movement  which  openly  declares  for  equal 
rights  and  privileges. 

Concession  of  equal  rights  and  privileges  must  carry 
with    it    equal    responsibilities,    conditioned    only    by 


*  Sex  Equality,  pp.  208,  347f. 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     257 

temporarily  disabling  circumstances  to  which  feminity- 
is  subject.  The  whole  conception  of  woman's  sphere 
needs  to  be  revolutionized  to  rid  it,  not  of  injustice 
only,  but  of  rank  inconsistency  with  itself.  Especially 
confused  is  the  prevailing  idea  of  what  is  due  to 
woman  as  such.  In  one  sphere,  she  is  petted,  idolized, 
adored;  men  toil  early  and  late  to  keep  her  in  jeweled 
ease,  "  free  from  care,  from  labor  free,"  free  also  to 
spend  without  restriction  for  the  gratification  of  her 
taste  or  her  caprice.  In  another  sphere,  she  is  the 
humble  servant  of  my  lady,  the  menial  to  whom  no 
deference  is  due,  or  the  common  drudge,  getting  worse 
treatment  than  the  rudest  working-man.  Relieving 
one  class  of  women  of  every  form  of  labor  and 
putting  the  whole  burden  on  another  class,  produces 
the  most  astounding  incongruities ;  lifts  one,  inferior 
perhaps  in  body  and  in  mind,  to  be  the  envy  of  other 
women,  the  object  of  an  obsequious  masculine  homage, 
and  leaves  to  neglect  another,  fitted  it  may  be  for 
any  place.  The  ordinary  mark  of  high  caste  among 
women  is  freedom  from  any  dust  of  toil.  To  work, 
to  be  of  any  real  use  in  the  world,  thwarts  the  aim 
for  social  distinction.  The  young  woman  who  earns 
her  own  living  feels  it  to  be  a  humiliation,  and  looks 
forward  to  a  marriage  which  will  relieve  her  of  that 
badge  of  mediocrity.  But  from  a  socialist  point  of 
view  these  are  pernicious  habits  of  thought.  For  any 
one  to  live  without  work  is  to  violate  the  principle 
of  equality ;  it  is  to  lay  upon  another  person  an  undue 
share  of  toil.     It  is  to  make  oneself  dependent  on 


258  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  labor  of  others,  hving  or  dead;  and  dependence 
is  a  state  to  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible.  Every 
person  who  goes  through  the  world  should  personally 
contribute  at  least  enough  to  pay  his  passage;  it 
was  never  intended  that  there  should  be  any  dead- 
heads. If  woman  is  to  have  equality  with  man  in 
rights  and  privileges,  there  will  inevitably  fall  to  her 
equality  of  duties  and  responsibilities. 

Instead  of  its  being  a  credit  to  live  without  work, 
entitling  him  who  succeeds  in  doing  so  to  distinction 
as  a  superior  sort  of  person,  one  to  be  looked  up  to 
and  envied,  it  is  essentially  a  discredit,  and  ought 
rather  to  lower  one's  rank.  Were  all  men  and  women 
to  share  in  the  world's  work,  the  amount  of  labor 
that  would  necessarily  fall  to  each  would  be  no  burden, 
would  be  only  the  measure  of  exercise  conducive  to 
good  health.  There  would  be  an  end  of  the  prejudice 
so  many  feel  against  labor,  and  of  the  scorn  ungrate- 
fully meted  out  for  the  poor  creatures  who  by  their 
drudgery  enable  others  to  keep  their  hands  so  soft 
and  so  white. 

With  the  coming  of  equality  the  notion  will  have 
to  give  way  that  the  woman  is  to  be  supported  by 
the  man.  It  will  be  recognized  that  the  maintenance 
of  the  household  —  so  far  as  not  assumed  by  the 
collectivity  —  belongs  alike  to  both.  Where,  as  is 
increasingly  the  case,  no  house-keeping  duties  are 
assumed  by  the  newly  married  woman,  she  will  cheer- 
fully continue  in  any  gainful  occupation  she  had 
before  pursued,  contributing  as  matter  of  course  to 


Socialism  the  EnfrancJiiscmcnt  of  Woman     259 

the  family  income.  If  it  is  housekeeping  she  docs, 
that  will  equally  be  counted  as  contributory  to  the 
same  end. 

Socialism  proposes  to  give  woman  an  equal  chance 
with  man.  Full  civil  and  political  rights  are  to  be 
secured  to  her,  all  fields  of  activity  opened.  Work 
done,  whether  of  the  hand  or  of  the  head,  is  to  be 
estimated  and  paid  for  on  its  merits  as  work,  with 
no  deduction  on  the  ground  of  its  being  woman's 
work.  For  interferences  with  her  ordinary  activities 
arising  from  her  feminine  constitution  and  functions, 
she  is  not  to  be  fined  by  a  stoppage  of  pay ;  society 
will  hold  that  these  disablements  are  in  all  fitness  a 
communal,  not  a  personal,  charge;  and  will  see  that 
the  burden,  so  far  as  is  humanly  possible,  be  taken 
from  the  individual.  Maternity  will  be  recognized  as 
a  high  public  service,  to  be  rewarded  out  of  the  public 
purse,  as  are  other  great  and  perilous  undertakings 
contributory  to  the  world's  upbuilding.  The  State 
will  come  fully  to  perceive  that  it  has  the  chief  stake 
in  the  children,  and  will  not  limit  its  provision  for 
them  to  their  education ;  it  will  assume  the  whole 
charge  of  their  bringing  up  under  the  mother's  eye. 
The  girls  and  boys  will  have  much  the  same  life  as 
now,  save  that  the  gross  inequalities  of  fortune,  which 
at  present  are  such  a  vexation  and  perplexity  to  the 
little  ones,  will  not  be  thrust  in  their  faces.  When 
they  come  to  the  end  of  their  school  days,  the  girls, 
become  young  women  entering  upon  active  life,  will 
not  find  themselves  suddenly  discriminated  against  as 


260  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

compared  with  the  young  men.  All  careers  to  which 
they  may  aspire  will  be  open  to  them  on  equal  terms 
with  their  brothers.  It  will  not  be  thought  unseemly 
for  them  to  take  part  in  the  election  of  public  officers, 
or  to  be  themselves  elevated  to  places  of  trust  should 
such  be  the  voice  of  the  people.  Thus  will  mothers 
and  daughters  be  wholly  delivered  from  the  humiliat- 
ing dependency  which  now  so  enfeebles  and  deforms 
the   womanly   nature. 

That  an  equal  chance  and  fair  play  would  produce 
a  transformation  of  the  feminine  half  of  the  world, 
nobody  doubts,  not  even  timorous  conservatives ;  but 
they  apprehend  that  the  change  would  be  for  the 
worse.  They  do  not  believe  in  liberty,  dare  not  trust 
equality;  grudgingly  admit  that  any  gain  has  thus 
far  come  from  the  movement  in  that  direction  since 
the  days  when  men  captured  wives  as  they  did  other 
game.  While  no  one  is  competent  to  say  beforehand 
just  what  will  result  from  a  great  social  innovation, 
it  seems  not  too  much  to  expect  that  the  full  applica- 
tion in  law  and  custom  of  the  principles  of  equal 
rights,  equal  privileges,  equal  opportunities,  will  tend 
strongly  to  bring  about  equality  between  man  and 
woman ;  not  absolute  likeness  of  mind  and  spirit, 
which  is  wholly  undesirable  —  but  such  an  uplift  of 
womankind  through  a  veritable  independence  attained, 
such  a  strengthening  of  characteristic  qualities  most 
to  be  valued,  and  such  an  awakening  of  now  half- 
dormant  powers,  as  to  end  forever  all  talk  of  the 
inferiority   of   woman  to  man.     What   will   be   seen 


Socialism  the  Eiifraiicliiscnioit  of  JVomaji     261 

may  be  called  an  unbalanced  equality,  that  is  to  say, 
equality  on  the  whole,  coupled  with  various  inequality 
as  to  particulars,  each  party  keeping  an  acknowledged 
leadership  in  one  respect  and  another,  owing  in  part, 
perhaps,  to  inefifaceable  sex-distinctions,  and  in  part, 
certainly,  to  an  undeniable  difference  of  spheres, 
capable,  to  be  sure,  of  retrenchment,  but  which  no 
degree  of  liberty  and  no  social  evolution  can  ever 
altogether  abolish. 

Distortions  of  human  nature  incident  to  unjust 
exactions  and  artificially  imposed  disabilities,  will  be 
overcome,  no  doubt,  when  the  causes  are  removed; 
but  no  one  will  pretend  to  say  that  under  the  most 
perfect  regulations  women,  any  more  than  men,  are 
to  escape  all  the  follies  into  which  they  at  present 
fall.  The  strongest  of  all  passions  will  here  and 
there  get  beyond  control  in  the  future,  as  it  has  in 
the  past,  but  less  commonly,  less  inevitably.  Evil 
in  this  world  —  and  presumably  in  any  other  —  is  by 
utmost  effort  to  be  lessened,  not  abolished.  It  is  a 
reasonable  expectation  that,  with  the  establishment 
of  woman's  independence,  the  hideous  fatality  of 
temptation  will  be  removed,  and  the  chief  spring  of 
•"'le  "  social  evil "  be  dried  up.  Great  furtherance 
un  the  same  direction  will  come  from  the  check  that 
will  be  put  upon  luxury  —  always  a  fecund  source  of 
moral  debasement  —  by  a  leveling  power  which,  while 
it  benignantly  bids  the  valleys  rise,  will  say  impe- 
riously, "  Bow  down,  ye  mountains !  "  Rich  men  and 
men  in  high  places,  as  no  one  needs  to  be  told,  are 


262  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

apt  to  assume  that  they  are  absolved  from  certain 
restraints  which  society  imposes  upon  the  commonalty, 
and  by  the  license  they  take,  and  take  with  the  quasi- 
acquiescence  of  society,  exercise  a  baleful  influence 
upon  a  class  of  young  women  vain  enough  and  de- 
pendent enough  to  be  flattered  by  the  attentions  of 
the  upper  class.  This  is  one  of  the  chief  curses  of 
capitalism,  as  it  was  of  feudalism,  as  it  was  of  slavery, 
as  it  often  has  been  of  royalty ;  no  less  heinous  now 
that  the  pampered  of  fortune  must  sue  for  favors,  or 
purchase  them,  instead  of  taking  them  by  prescriptive 
right. 

GIVE  WOMAN   A    CHANCE   TO   SHOW   WHAT   SHE   CAN   DO 

What  woman's  capabilities  in  the  mental  world  are 
remains  as  yet  in  great  measure  to  be  seen,  since 
an  essential  condition  of  their  coming  to  light  is,  a 
liberty  of  action  hitherto  largely  withheld.  But  some 
striking  intimations  have  been  given.  That  she  can 
match  men  in  politics  has  been  shown  by  Madame 
Roland,  by  Harriet  Martineau,  by  Susan  B.  Anthony. 
Her  power  to  out-talk  her  brothers  in  private  has 
always  been  conceded ;  but  what  she  can  do  in  oratory 
is  only  beginning  to  be  disclosed.  That  in  this  field 
she  need  hide  no  diminished  head  in  the  presence  of 
the  ablest  of  the  other  sex,  must  be  admitted  by  those 
who  have  heard  Lucretia  Mott,  or  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
or  Mrs.  Ormiston  Chant,  or  Mary  A.  Livermore,  or 
Anna  Howard  Shaw,  or  Anna  Garlin  Spencer.  Mary 
Somerville  in  astronomy,  and  Madame  Curie  in  phys- 
ics   have    shown   that   the   highest   walks   of    science 


Socialism  the  Enfranchisement  of  Woman     263 

may  be  trod  and  its  most  enviable  honors  won  by 
women.  These  masterful  spirits,  and  scores  beside, 
have  pressed  through  doors  left  ajar  and  conquered 
whole  kingdoms  for  women,  who  will  follow  them  by 
the  thousand  when  socialism  shall  have  thrown  the 
doors  wide  open.  They  will  gain  the  place  in  science 
and  scientific  discovery,  in  art  and  architecture,  in 
invention,  in  politics,  and  in  various  professions,  which 
they  already  hold  in  music,  in  literature,  and  on  the 
stage. 

It  will  be  no  small  thing  for  gifted  spirits  to  gain 
the  freedom  of  their  wings  and  mount  to  airy  heights 
of  achievement ;  but  a  purer  beneficence,  answering 
to  a  more  crying  need,  will  reach  to  millions  of  the 
humbler  sort  of  women  toiling  through  long  hours  in 
factories  or  at  trades,  living  from  hand  to  mouth  — 
and  that  only  by  close  application  —  while  the  fruit  of 
their  labors  enriches  others ;  with  no  hope  of  better 
days,  no  idea  that  improvement  of  this  hard  old  world 
is  contemplated  by  anybody,  or  is  indeed  possible; 
strangers  even  to  the  socialistic  "  dream,"  uncom- 
forted  through  all  their  weary  round  by  any  promise 
of  relief  here  below  for  them  or  their  children  after 
them  to  the  remotest  generation  ;  stolid  even  to  the 
fact  of  their  own  debasement,  and  repelling  the  hand 
stretched  out  to  rescue  them  through  a  change  of  the 
social  order.  To  these,  who  have  not  the  far-vision, 
to  whom  it  is  not  given  to  dwell  upon  the  mountain- 
height  and  at  the  earliest  hour  look 

"  In   the    frank   Dawn's   delighted    eyes," 


264  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

and  with  a  rapture  known  only  to  those  who  consort 
with  air  and  sky  as  well  as  earth,  see 

"The    first   long   surf   of   climbing   light 
Flood   all   the   thirsty   east   with   gold," 

—  to  these  "  dwellers  in  the  valley-land "  no  fore- 
gleams  as  yet  come  of  the  day  of  their  redemption; 
but  when  that  day  does  come,  as  come  it  will  for 
all  the  world,  what  it  will  do  for  the  lowly  and  the 
serving  will  be,  to  what  it  does  for  others  higher 
up,  as  the  verdure  and  flowers  and  fruits  of  the 
lowland  are  to  all  the  snow-capped  mountain  has  to 
give. 


CHAPTER    XI 

SOCIALISM  THE  APPLIED  ETHICS  OF  JESUS 

The  discussion  here  entered  upon  will  not  concern 
itself  with  any  matters  of  criticism,  higher  or  lower. 
The  writer's  or  the  reader's  view  of  the  personality 
involved,  of  his  historicity  even,  has  no  bearing  on 
the  question  before  us,  which  is  :  How  does  socialism 
stand  as  an  application  of  the  moral  teaching  accred- 
ited to  Jesus  ?  This  question  at  its  narrowest  is  of 
immense  import,  as  on  its  determination  the  judgment 
of  socialism  by  the  Christian  church,  which  in  all 
its  many  branches  professes  to  found  upon  these 
teachings  and  to  have  for  them  an  unbounded  rev- 
erance,  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  turn.  As 
Christians  of  one  name  and  another  easily  constitute 
a  majority  of  the  civilized  world,  the  whole  church, 
once  it  is  brought  to  see  that  a  given  theory  of  social 
organization  is  ethically  in  accordance  with  the  words 
of  the  Master,  that  it  puts  into  form  his  spirit,  that  it 
prepares  the  way  for  carrying  out  his  precepts,  would 
iii  reason  be  bound  to  pronounce  for  that  theory, 
whereupon  it  must  instantly  be  put  in  the  way  of 
realization.  For  such  a  logical  result  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  make  out  that  Jesus  was  a  conscious  socialist, 
and  so  called  himself  eighteen  hundred  years  before 
the  word  "  socialism  "  was  coined  in  any  tongue ;  all 
that  needs  be  shown  is  that  the  ethical  aim  of  social- 


266  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ism  (as  far  as  it  goes)  is  identical  with  that  of  Chris- 
tianity as  Christianity  was  originally  set  forth. 

JESUS    ADDRESSED    HIMSELF    CHIEFLY    TO    THE    POOR 

In  Jesus'  conception  of  his  mission  he  was  sent 
especially  to  the  poor.  •  On  his  first  appearance  in  his 
home  synagogue  after  his  baptism  he  stood  up  and 
read  :  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because 
he  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor  ; 
he  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives, 
and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bruised,  to  proclaim  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord."  *  And  repeatedly,  as  e\idence  of  his 
fidelity  to  this  mission,  he  points  to  the  fact  that  "the 
poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them."  f  His  atten- 
tion was  given  to  the  poor  almost  exclusively,  from  a 
feeling,  evidently,  that  their  wrongs  and  their  woes 
entitled  them  to  it,  that  in  view  of  the  shocking 
inequalities  in  the  outward  circumstances  of  the  peo- 
ple, it  was  his  duty  as  the  leader  of  a  new  era  to  do 
his  utmost  possible  to  balance  the  account.  He 
found  the  poor,  as  has  always  been  the  case,  suffering 
greatly  more  from  disease  than  did  the  well-to-do,  — 
a  fact  that  appealed  to  him  strongly,  as  appears  from 
the  record  of  his  doings.  The  most  of  his  time  and 
energy  seems  to  have  been  spent  in  looking  after 
the  sick  and  the  unfortunate  whom  everybody  else 
neglected.     Nothing  so  aroused    his    indignation   as 


*  Luke  4 :  18,  19.     See  also  Matt.  4  :  23. 
tMatt.  11  :  5;  Luke  6:  20;  7:  22. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        267 

the  cold  indifference  of  the  wealthy  class  to  all  the 
misery  about  them.  Their  hcartlessness  drew  out 
his  fiercest  invectives.  Fiery  denunciations,  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  usual  gentleness  of  his  words,  roll 
from  his  lips  when  he  comes  to  speak  of  the  rich  and 
favored.  He  has  no  mercy  on  the  respectable  cap- 
italists "  who  bind  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be 
borne,  and  lay  them  upon  men's  shoulders,"  *  "who 
devour  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretense  make  long 
prayers."  f  He  abominates  all  this  sort,  to  which, 
from  a  wide  observation,  he  evidently  thinks  that, 
with  rarest  exception,  the  entire  wealthy  class  belong  ; 
saying  vehemently :  "  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go 
through  a  needle's  eye  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God."  |  So  deeply  is  he  stirred 
by  the  social  situation,  the  luxury  of  the  rich  and 
their  stolid  unconcern  about  the  wretchedness  of  the 
poor,  that  he  takes  the  matter  up  in  the  most  terrific 
of  parables,  and  paints  with  no  parsimony  of  coloring 
the  future  state  of  the  capitalist.  Though  the  picture 
burned  itself  into  the  minds  of  generations  gone  by, 
the  neglect  of  the  scriptures  which  has  crept  in  of 
late  is  reason  for  here  producing  it  entire :  — 

"  Now  there  was  a  certain  rich  man,  and  he  was 
clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  faring  sumptuously 
every  day  ;  and  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus  was 
laid  at  his  gate,  full  of  sores,  and  desiring  to  be  fed 
with  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  rich  man's  table  ; 
yea,  even  the  dogs  came  and  licked  his  sores.     And 


*  Matt.  20:4.  t  Luke  20:  47.         J  Matt.  19:24. 


268  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

it  came  to  pass,  that  the  beggar  died,  and  that  he  was 
carried  away  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom  ; 
and  the  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried.  And  in 
Hades  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments,  and 
seeth  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom. 
And  he  cried  and  said,  '  Father  Abraham,  have  mercy 
on  me,  and  send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of 
his  finger  in  water,  and  cool  my  tongue  ;  for  I  am  in 
anguish  in  this  flame.'  But  Abraham  said,  '  Son,  re- 
member that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good 
things,  and  Lazarus  in  like  manner  evil  things  ;  but 
now  here  he  is  comforted,  and  thou  art  in  anguish. 
And  besides  all  this,  between  us  and  you  there  is  a 
great  gulf  fixed,  and  they  that  would  pass  from  hence 
to  you  may  not  be  able,  and  that  none  may  cross  over 
from  thence  to  us.'  And  he  said,  '  I  pray  thee,  then, 
father,  that  thou  wouldst  send  him  to  my  father's 
house ;  for  I  have  five  brothers ;  that  he  may  give 
earnest  warning  to  them,  that  they  too  may  not  come 
to  this  place  of  torment.'  But  Abraham  saith,  *  They 
have  Moses  and  the  prophets;  let  them  hear  them.' 
But  he  said, '  Nay,  father  Abraham  ;  but  if  one  should 
go  to  them  from  the  dead,  they  would  repent.'  And 
he  said  to  him,  '  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  they  will  not  be  persuaded  though  one 
should  rise  from  the  dead.'  "  * 

The  reader  will  note  that  the  purpose  of  this  fan- 


*Luke  16:  19-31.  This  is  not  the  place  for  critical  or  apologetic 
comment  on  a  scripture  quotation ;  but  one  cannot  help  saying  that 
the  provocation  must  indeed  have  been  desperate  which  forced  from 
the  lips  of  the  gentlest  of  men  this  most  terrific  of  parables. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        269 

tasy  is  not  to  comfort  the  poor  —  represented  in  it  by 
Lazarus  —  with  a  picture  of  future  blessedness  which 
is  to  make  up  for  present  hardships.  The  role  of 
Lazarus  is  altogether  secondary,  the  whole  force  of 
the  parable  turning  on  the  fate  of  the  rich  man. 
Unlike  pictures  of  Paradise  since  produced  with  a 
view  to  console  the  wretched  and  reconcile  them  to 
their  lot  in  this  world  with  visions  of  a  reward  here- 
after, it  is  a  picture  of  perdition  to  blanch  the  cheek 
of  the  capitalist  who  lives  on  the  earnings  of  other 
people  —  people  who  may  be  driven  at  last  to  beg  in 
the  streets  and  rot  at  the  gates  of  his  palace. 

A  preacher  who  spoke  in  this  way  would  naturally 
not  draw  many  hearers  from  the  upper  classes.  The 
audiences  Jesus  addressed  are  usually  spoken  of  as 
"the  multitude,"  a  term  which  conveys,  along  with  an 
idea  of  numbers,  an  implication  that  they  were  drawn 
from  what  we  call  "the  masses."  The  later  observa- 
tion was :  "  Not  many  wise,  not  many  mighty,  not 
many  noble,  are  called  ;  but  the  foolish,  the  weak,  the 
base  things  of  the  world,  the  things  that  are  despised, 
did  God  choose,  yea,  and  the  things  that  are  not,  that 
he  might  bring  to  nought  the  things  that  are."*  The 
common  people  it  was  who  heard  Jesus  gladly  and  made 
up  his  crowds.  If  others,  the  rich  and  titled,  saw 
him,  it  was  for  the  most  part  privately  or  in  small 
companies.!  The  Christian  congregation  at  the  out- 
set was  as  far  as  possible  from  being  an  assembly  of 
nabobs,  or  an  assembly  subsidized  by  nabobs.     The 


*  I.  Cor.  1  :  26  ff.         f  Luke  7: 36;   18:18;  John  3  :  1  ff. 


270  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

reproach  of  the  movement  was  that  those  who  went 
into  it  were  a  common  lot,  a  vulgar  set.  If  ever  any 
of  the  "  better  class  "  spoke  well  of  Jesus,  their  asso- 
ciates would  say:  "Are  ye  also  led  astray?  Have 
any  of  the  rulers  believed  on  him,  or  of  the  Phari- 
sees ?  But  this  multitude  that  knoweth  not  the  Law 
are  accursed.  Search,  and  ye  will  see  that  out  of 
Galilee  ariseth  no  prophet."  *  But  this  supercilious- 
ness Jesus  ignored ;  he  was  first  of  all  a  democrat, 
and  no  aristocratic  scorn  could  at  all  shake  him 
from  his  devotion  to  the  people.  "  When  he  saw  the 
multitude  he  was  moved  with  compassion  for  them, 
because  they  were  distressed  and  scattered,  as  sheep 
not  having  a  shepherd."  f  His  leveling  doctrine  is  as 
radical  as  that  of  any  socialist  of  our  day.  "  Many 
who  are  first  will  be  last,"  he  said,  "and  the  last 
first."  Elsewhere  he  completely  sets  aside  rank,  as 
having  no  place  in  his  democratic  kingdom  :  "  A  dis- 
ciple is  not  above  his  teacher,  nor  a  servant  above  his 
lord.  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his 
teacher,  and  the  servant  as  his  lord."  %  For  a  yet 
more  explicit  statement  of  this  socialistic  doctrine  see 
this  :  "  Ye  know  that  the  rulers  of  the  nations  lord 
it  over  them,  and  their  great  men  exercise  a  strict 
authority  over  them.  Not  so  shall  it  be  among  you  ; 
but  whoever  desireth  to  become  great  among  you, 
will  be  your  minister  ;  and  whoever  desireth  to  be 
first  among  you,  will  be  your  servant."  §     We  begin 


*  John  7:47-49,  52.         t  Matt.  9  :  36. 

t  Matt.  10  :  24,  25  ;   19  :  30 ;  Mark  9  :  35.         §  Matt.  20  :  25-27. 


I 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        271 

to  see  that  Lowell  knew  whereof  he  spoke  when  he 
said,  "There  is  dynamite  enough  in  the  New  lesla- 
ment,  if  legitimately  applied,  to  blow  all  our  existing 
institutions  to  atoms  " ;  and  that  Laveleye's  equiva- 
lent words  came  from  good  acquaintance  with  the 
gospels  :  "  If  Christianity  were  taught  and  understood 
conformably  to  the  spirit  of  its  Founder,  the  existing 
social  order  could  not  last  a  day." 

Jesus  in  his  practice  did  away  with  caste  and  class 
just  as  socialists  propose  to  do,  by  lifting  up  the  hum- 
ble and  despised.  In  order  that  he  might  approach 
the  lowly  with  no  show  of  condescension  he  "made 
himself  of  no  reputation,"  poor  as  the  poorest,  dressed 
plainly,  lived  simply.  From  his  known  character, 
his  wisdom  and  charm  of  speech,  he  was  occasionally 
befriended  by  one  of  the  upper  class,  even  invited 
to  dinner,  —  attentions  which  he  welcomed  that  there 
might  be  no  show  of  exclusiveness  on  his  part.*  But 
the  aristocratic  never  could  get  free  from  their  exclu- 
siveness, and  reproached  him  on  all  occasions  for 
having  to  do  with  low  people,  outcasts,  and  foreign- 
ers.! These  wretches  knew  his  benignity  and  fol- 
lowed him  even  into  Pharisees'  houses.  The  laborers, 
the  burden-bearers,  were  the  class  that  most  drew 
upon  his  sympathy,  and  to  them  are  addressed  the 
tenderest  expressions  of  regard.  He  insists  that  '•  the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  living,"  but  knows  full  well 
how  scanty  a  living  it  often   is,  so   many  there  are 


*Luke  7:36;   11:37;   13:31. 

tMatt.  9:10, 11;  11:19;  Luke  7:39;  15:1,2. 


272  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

"  who  reap  where  they  have  not  sown,  and  gather 
where  they  have  not  scattered  "  ;  and  he  calls  to  all 
the  poor  toilers  :  "  Come  to  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest "  ;  for  in  the 
kingdom  that  he  would  set  up  they  who  serve  were 
to  be  the  greatest.*  As  under  such  a  condition  all 
would  seek  to  make  themselves  of  the  utmost  service, 
there  could  really  be  no  tendency  to  distinctions  of 
rank  in  that  kingdom. 

THE    GOSPEL    VIEW    OF    EARTHLY    TREASURES 

Jesus'  fundamental  principle  in  regard  to  objects  of 
possession  is,  that  there  are  things  of  more  conse- 
quence than  earthly  treasures.  Promptly  he  set  this 
forth  in  the  first  enunciation  of  his  gospel.  In  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  his  earnest  charge  to  the  peo- 
ple is,  not  to  become  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  riches, 
or,  taking  him  at  the  letter,  not  to  pursue  them  at  all. 
This  injunction  is  drowned  in  the  bustle  of  modern 
commercialism  and  rendered  almost  nugatory  ;  —  it 
sounds  to  most  ears  (if  it  is  ever  heard)  as  the 
vaporing  of  an  idle  dreamer  devoid  of  practical  sense. 
Looking  down  out  of  heaven  upon  us,  he  may  well 
be  saying: 

"  Who  hath  believed  our  report, 
And  to  whom  hath  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed?" 

His  charge  is  direct,  specific,  vigorous,  extending  to 
some  length.     It  begins  :  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 


*Matt.  II  :28;  23:11. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        273 

treasures  upon  earth,"  striking  straight  at  the  pur- 
suit in  which  almost  the  entire  Christian  world  is 
engaged,  Christians  being  out  of  comparison  more 
absorbed  in  it  than  are,  or  ever  were,  the  heathen. 
But  Jesus  is  precise,  pointed,  and  there  is  no  interpret- 
ing away  the  force  of  his  words.  Elsewhere  he  pours 
a  more  furious  scorn  upon  the  holding  of  private 
property  to  any  considerable  extent,  long  antedating 
Proudhon  in  regarding  it  a  crime,  and  deeming  it 
heavily  punishable  in  the  next  world  if  not  in  this. 
"  Woe  to  you  that  are  rich  !  for  ye  have  received  your 
consolation."  *  Wealth  is  a  poison  which  corrupts 
what  it  touches ;  it  is  fretted  by  moths  and  con- 
sumed by  rust ;  it  gives  "  the  evil  eye  "  which  works 
maliciously  and  fills  one's  whole  being  with  darkness ; 
the  quest  of  it  is  Mammon-worship,  foul  and  damna- 
ble. The  final  plight  of  one  who  devotes  himself  to 
the  accumulation  of  riches  even  in  so  honorable  a 
way  as  we  may  suppose  farming  to  be,  is  set  forth  in 
a  parable : 

"  The  ground  of  a  certain  rich  man  brought  forth 
plentifully.     And  he  thought  within  himself,  saying, 


*  Luke  6:24.  The  sentiment  is  expanded  in  James  5:1-5:  — 
"  Come  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and  wail  for  your  miseries  that  are 
coming  upon  you.  Your  riches  are  corrupted,  and  your  garments 
are  becoming  moth-eaten ;  your  gold  and  silver  is  nisted,  and  the 
rust  of  them  will  be  a  witness  against  you,  and  will  eat  your  flesh  as 
fire;  ye  have  heaped  up  treasure  in  the  last  days  !  Behold,  the  hire 
of  the  laborers  who  reaped  your  fields,  which  is  fradulently  kept 
back  by  you,  crieth  out ;  and  the  cries  of  chose  who  reaped  have 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  Ye  have  lived  in 
luxury  on  the  earth,  and  have  been  given  to  pleasure ;  ye  have  pam- 
pered your  hearts  in  the  day  of  slaughter." 


274  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

'  What  shall  I  do  ?  for  I  have  not  where  to  store  my 
crops.'  And  he  said,  'This  will  I  do  ;  I  will  pull 
down  my  barns,  and  build  greater  ;  and  there  will  I 
store  all  my  crops  and  my  goods  ;  and  I  will  say  to 
my  soul  :  Soul,  thou  hast  many  goods  laid  up  for 
many  years ;  take  thine  ease  ;  eat,  drink,  be  merry.' 
But  God  said  to  him  :  '  Fool  !  this  night  will  thy  soul 
be  required  of  thee ;  and  whose  will  those  things  be 
which  thou  hast  laid  up  ? '  "  * 

Jesus  manifests  almost  an  abhorrence  of  money ;  is 
quite  willing  that  Caesar  should  take  it  in  taxes.  On 
sending  out  the  twelve  to  preach,  he  warns  them 
specifically  :  "  Get  no  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in 
your  purses."  f 

THE    THINGS    THAT    ARE    MOST    WORTH 

Over  against  these  worldly  things  he  set,  as  of 
infinitely  more  value,  what  he  considered  the  true 
riches,  the  keeping  of  a  good  heart  toward  God  and 
man.  We  are  concerned  here  only  with  the  ethical 
part  of  these  treasures  and  the  emphasis  he  put  upon 
them,  the  whole  stress  of  which  is  not  to  be  brought 
out  within  the  limits  of  this  chapter,  as  it  would  involve 
the  rehearsal  of  the  great  part  of  what  the  synoptists 
report  him  to  have  said.  But  proverbially  long  as  is 
the  moral  law,  the  great  masters  have  shown  a  genius 
for  putting  its  essence  in  a  few  words,  and  so  we  have 
out  of  several  ancient  civilizations  a  practically  identi- 
cal summary  of  exceeding  brevity  independently  pro- 


*  Luke  12:16-20.         t  Matt.  1 0  : 9. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        275 

duced,  going  far  to  prove  that  the  whole  race  is  indeed 
made  of  one  spiritual  substance  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth.*  The  compend  that  Jesus  gave, 
since  known  as  the  Golden  Rule,  may  be  taken  on  his 
own  statement  as  implicating  all  binding  moral  obli- 
gations.! The  then  old  commandment,  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  when  he  had  freed  it 
from  Jewish  restrictions  and  made  it  imply  an  equal 
duty  to  strangers  and  aliens,  is  an  equivalent  formula, 
and  the  two  together  constitute  the  basis  of  primitive 
Christian  ethics. 

The  great  enlargement  given  to  the  word  "neigh- 
bor "  by  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  ex- 
pressly to  shape  its  interpretation  in  the  command- 
ment, has  notable  significance.  That  parable  at  one 
stroke  breaks  down  the  frowning  partition-walls  be- 
tween the  nations,  and  sets  up  a  theory  of  the  brother- 
hood of  man.  The  Samaritans,  though  having  a  strain 
of  Hebrew  blood,  were  a  people  apart,  with  whom  a 
Jew  would  have  no  dealings,  J  more  alien  to  him  in 
fact  than  Greeks  or  Romans  ;  but  in  the  parable  the 
Samaritan  acts  the  part  of  a  neighbor  and  brother  to 
an  unfortunate  Jew,  wounded  and  ready  to  die,  after 
one  and  another  of  the  reputedly  best  of  the  suf- 
ferer's own  people  had  passed  him  by.§  After  that 
utterance  the  word  neighbor  in  the  commandment 
could  never  have  the  narrow  meaning  it  had  before. 
The  duty  of  brotherliness  thenceforth  extended  over 


*  Acts  17:26.         t  Matt.  7  :  12. 
t  John  4: 9.         §  Luke  10  :  30-37. 


276  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

all  frontiers  ;  difference  of  race,  of  speech,  of  color, 
ceased  to  afford  release  from  its  requirement  ;  dis- 
tinctly, men  had  no  more  the  right  on  such  grounds 
to  do  each  other  wrong.  The  enmities  of  nation 
against  nation  had  no  longer  an  ethical  standing. 
War  became  wholesale  murder,  and  pillage  licensed 
robbery.  The  later  socialistic  doctrine  on  the  subject 
had  found  a  voice. 

The  Golden  Rule  vitalizes  brotherliness,  gives  it 
substance  and  soul.  Men  may  be  brothers  by  blood- 
relationship,  and  not  be  kind  to  each  other ;  but  they 
who  live  by  the  Golden  Rule  will  be  brothers  indeed, 
with  or  without  the  kinship  of  blood.  It  promptly 
checks  the  manifestation  of  an  overweening  selfish- 
ness, keeps  ever  alive  thoughtfulness  of  others,  makes 
heroes  and  saviors  by  subordinating  the  individual  to 
the  collective  interest.  It  is  the  one  sure  basis  of 
social  harmony  and  happiness.  Its  observance,  at 
least  in  appearance,  is  the  essence  even  of  courteous 
manners,  the  first  necessity  of  common  politeness. 
Hence  in  the  casual  meeting  of  friends  or  acquaint- 
ances, in  social  assemblies,  fashionable  or  unfashion- 
able, there  is  studied  effort  to  observe  the  form  of 
doing  as  we  would  be  done  by,  to  show  due  deference 
to  those  with  whom  we  mingle,  to  make  a  feint,  if 
nothing  more,  of  preferring  others  before  ourselves, 
at  any  rate  where  it  is  but  just  to  do  so.  At  the 
same  time  we  are  well  aware  that  this  —  in  bulk  at 
least  —  is  form  ;  good  form,  necessary  form,  but  form 
only.  Your  gracious  host,  who  does  so  abundantly 
for  your  happiness,  all  he  could  wish  to  have  done  for 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jcsns        277 

himself,  may  then  and  there  be  planning  some  game 
of  high  finance  to  ruin  you  and  others  of  the  company 
next  day.  The  Golden  Rule,  applied  to  externals, 
gives  a  social  elegance  that  could  poorly  be  dispensed 
with  ;  but  certainly  no  such  superficial  observance 
would  satisfy  the  giver  of  the  rule.  With  him  it  went 
to  the  innermost  and  uttermost,  regulating  even  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart. 

Now,  it  is  certain  that  such  a  rule  of  life  was,  at 
the  time  of  its  announcement  in  Galilee,*  incapable 
of  being  put  in  practice  short  of  a  social  revolution. 
Its  observance  by  a  band  of  wandering  preachers 
might  create  no  special  disturbance,  but  its  general 
adoption  as  a  guiding  principle  of  life  would  have  had 
to  be  accompanied  by  a  great  overturning.  And  we 
must  admit,  its  full  adoption  now,  after  all  the 
boasted  progress  of  the  centuries,  would  involve  a 
no  less  tremendous  change.  For,  while  in  a  super- 
ficial sense  —  that  is,  in  certain  of  the  amenities  of 
life,  in  our  charities,  our  philanthropies,  in  law  and 
custom  ;  briefly,  in  our  manners  —  we  make  a  far 
greater  outward  show  of  fraternity  than  did  the  world 
of  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  there  has  on  the  other 
hand,  in  consequence  of  the  enormous  growth  of 
private  capital  and  the  mad  rush  of  every  new  gen- 
eration for  the  possession  of  it,  been  engendered  an 
underlying  and  overmastering  selfishness,  a  fierce  and 


*  It  had  been  uttered  in  almost  identical  form  centuries  before  by 
Confucius  in  China  and  by  Plato  in  Athens,  and,  about  40  B.C.,  by 
Ilillel  in  Jerusalem,  and  derives  from  independent  origin  in  these 
various  quarters  an  immeasurable  merit  of  universality. 


278  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

all-devouring  greed,   which  seem  to  put  the  Golden 
Rule  farther  than  ever  from  acceptance. 

CONFLICT  OF  PRACTICE  WITH  PRECEPT 

One  wonders  how  far  it  is  possible  '♦  to  be  good  "■ 
under  a  system  which  makes  the  getting  of  what  the 
New  Testament  contemptuously  calls  "  filthy  lucre  " 
the  chief  end  of  life ;  which  exaggerates  and  exalts 
the  motive  for  getting  it  till  it  becomes  so  imperious 
that  means  and  measures  are  scrutinized  only  to  see 
that  they  will  not  too  certainly  land  the  eager  seeker 
behind  prison-doors.  Great  chances  of  even  that  fate 
will  be  taken  if  the  prize  is  large.  All  the  while,  men 
thus  possessed  by  the  lust  of  gold  will  put  on  an  air 
of  uprightness,  perhaps  of  piety.  They  respect  the 
church  and  the  scriptures.  At  any  rate  they  will 
seldom  openly  and  in  plain  terms  be  heard  to  de- 
nounce the  Golden  Rule  ;  they  will  simply  ignore  it, 
as  a  mystic  precept  impossible  of  application  in  the 
business  world.  Modern  methods  exclude  all  such 
fine  scrupulosities.  Not  all  calUngs  are  equally  an- 
tagonistic to  it ;  perhaps  there  are  some  few  where  it 
may  measurably  be  brought  into  practice.  Agricul- 
ture, from  its  simplicity  and  its  direct  dealing  with 
Nature,  offers  some  chance.  But  the  farmer  whose 
products  are  marketed  with  no  effort  at  deception, 
whose  butter,  whose  fruits,  are  through  and  through 
what  they  look  to  be  on  the  surface  of  the  package, 
whose  maple-sugar  is  not  a  flavored  admixture  of 
muscovado,  is  a  rather  rare  specimen  of  the  Homo 
nisticiis  agricolaris,  likely  to  be  ruined  by  his  less  con- 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        279 

scientious  neighbors.  Some  of  the  trades  and  pro- 
fessions admit  of  the  practice  of  altruism,  not  indeed 
in  the  measure  Jesus  required,  but  to  a  notable  degree. 
Physicians  and  surgeons,  for  example,  are  in  the  way 
of  rendering  an  astonishing  amount  of  gratuitous  serv- 
ice, doing  whole-heartedly  for  others  in  straits  as  they 
would  have  others  do  for  them.  But  of  the  business 
world  in  general  nothing  of  the  kind  is  to  be  said,  as 
every  one  knows.  The  operators  themselves  are  per- 
fectly conscious  of  this,  as  the  attitude  they  take  when 
brought  into  a  discussion  of  the  subject  more  or  less 
distinctly  shows.  They  do  not  care  to  hear  much 
said  about  the  Golden  Rule.  With  such  of  them  as 
retain  from  childhood  some  lingering  feeling  that  it 
is  somehow  binding,  the  faithful  presentation  of  it 
produces  an  unpleasant  contradiction  in  the  con- 
sciousness. Others,  more  philosophical,  driven  by  the 
palpable  conflict  between  their  daily  practice  and  the 
gospel  teachings  to  which  they  are  supposed  to  assent, 
think  the  matter  out  to  some  sort  of  a  logical  conclu- 
sion. In  the  process  overmastering  economic  consid- 
erations are  usually  decisive.  For  obvious  reasons  — 
also  economic — the  outcome  of  such  reflections  is 
ordinarily  given  no  publicity,  but  now  and  then  a 
startling  declaration  will  be  made.  The  minister  of 
a  prominent  orthodox  Congregational  church  in  a 
large  eastern  city,  becoming  a  socialist,  and  basing 
his  socialism  on  the  ethics  of  Jesus,  was  met  by  one 
of  his  trustees,  a  very  successful  and  clear-headed 
business  man  personally  known  to  the  present  writer, 
with  the  frank  avowal  :  "  I  do  not  believe  in  the  ethics 


280  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  Jesus;  I  stand  on  the  ethics  of  Aristotle."*  Thus 
what  is  tacitly  indicated  by  the  general  practice  will 
occasionally  come  to  a  verbal  expression  on  the  lips  of 
Christian  men,  leaders  in  society  and  in  the  church, 
so  desperately  obvious  is  the  contradiction  between 
the  moral  teaching  of  the  gospel  and  the  working  of 
the  existing  social  order,  so  impossible  is  it  to  conduct 
business  under  this  order  in  accordance  with  that 
teaching.  Efforts  are  constantly  made  to  minimize 
all  this,  but  it  will  not  be  minimized.  The  more  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  is  looked  into,  the  more  irreconcil- 
able it  is  seen  to  be  with  the  social  system  under 
which  we  live.  Not  even  "  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  " 
which  Jesus  so  roundly  charged  with  choking  the 
word  of  truth,  and  which  is  a  thousand-fold  more  of  a 
power  now  than  it  was  then,  can  make  this  appear  other- 
wise. We  simply  have  left  us  a  choice  between  the 
two  things.  It  is  still  out  of  the  question  to  serve 
God  and  Mammon. 

THE    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIAN    COLLECTIVITY 

Jesus  preached  brotherliness  —  "  Ye  are  all  breth- 
ren "  —  and  laid  upon  his  followers  such  obligation 
of  mutual  service  that  the  community  which  gathered 
about  his  name  became  immediately  distinguished  for 
the  fidelity  of  its  members  to  one  another.  Their 
common  form  of  address  was  "  Brother,"  and  the  word 


*A  similar  admission  has  even  been  heard  from  ministers,  con- 
strained by  the  irreconcilability  of  Jesus'  precepts  with  the  ways  of 
the  modem  Christian  world. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        281 

so  used  carried  then  its  full  significance.  The  body 
of  disciples  were  known  as  "  the  brethren."  *  The 
closest  relations  existed  among  the  twelve  who  were 
the  immediate  attendants  upon  the  Master,  and  who 
with  him  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  church,  the  model 
on  which  it  was  constituted.  They  all  lived  out  of  a 
common  treasury,  which,  because  it  held  so  little,  was 
not  dignified  by  that  name,  but  was  rather  contemp- 
tuously called  "the  bag,"  and  became  ultimately  a 
reproach  to  the  one  who  carried  it.  f  If  any  one  of 
the  little  community  had  a  house,  all  equally  occupied 
it.  One  modest  shelter  at  Capernaum  may  have  be- 
longed to  Jesus,  but  it  was  used  so  much  in  common 
as  to  give  the  impression  of  a  collective  ownership.  J 
One  of  the  references  to  it  indicates  that  it  was  situ- 
ated close  by  the  shore  of  the  lake  which  he  loved. 

The  communism  practiced  by  the  Master  and  his 
chosen  twelve  was  not  a  prearranged  system,  not  a 
formulated  doctrine  ;  it  was  simply  the  natural  result 
of  their  close  fellowship,  taken  up  as  matter  of  course 
by  a  band  of  brothers  so  absorbed  in  the  general  aim 
as  to  have  lost  all  concern  for  personal  and  private 
ends.  One  or  more  of  them  had  family  relations  § 
which  must  have  exacted  some  attention  ;  still,  in- 
terest in  and  responsibility  for  the  great  social  and 
religious  movement  subordinated  domestic  obligations 


♦John  21:23;  Acts  passim.         t  John  12:6;  13:29. 
t  Matt.  9:10,28;    13:1,36;    17:25;    Mark  2  :  1  ;    3:19;    7:17; 
9:33;    10:10;    John  1:39.     But  see  Luke  9 :  58. 
§  Matt.  8:14. 


282  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

to  a  degree  startling  to  our  modern  ideas,  creating 
a  semblance  of  monasticism.*  However,  the  most 
active  and  assiduous  of  the  twelve  had  a  household 
apart  which  he  did  not  wholly  abandon,  and  which 
Jesus  visited,  f 

In  the  primitive  church  under  the  direct  ministry 
of  Jesus,  the  holding  of  some  little  private  property 
seems  not  to  have  been  abrogated  ;  but  persons  of 
large  means,  wishing  to  come  into  the  fellowship,  were 
required  to  rid  themselves  of  their  possessions.  The 
general  direction  was  :  "  Sell  what  ye  have,  and  give 
alms,"  on  the  ground  that  earthly  goods  are  fleeting, 
and  that  he  who  sets  his  heart  on  them  will  have 
a  weakened  regard  for  higher  and  more  enduring 
things. J  How  rigorously  this  rule  was  applied  to  the 
few  rich  persons  who  showed  a  disposition  to  join  the 
community  is  brought  out  in  the  account  of  one  such 
incident.  An  exceedingly  eligible  candidate  presented 
himself  in  the  person  of  a  young  man  so  pure  in  life 
and  so  winsome  in  his  manners  that  Jesus,  it  is  said, 
"  looking  on  him,  loved  him."  When  the  young  man 
had  indicated  his  desire,  and  asked  what  he  should  do, 
the  answer  was:  "Go,  sell  whatever  thou  hast,  and 
give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in 
heaven  ;  and  come,  follow  me."  As  this  was  more 
than  the  candidate,  who  withal  was  very  rich,  felt  pre- 
pared to  do,  he  was  not  received  into  the  church.  § 


*  Matt.  19:29;  Luke  14:26;  18:29;  John  17  :  14,  16. 
t  Mark  1  :  29 ;  Luke  4  :  38.         %  Luke  12  :  33,  34. 
§  Mark  10:17-22.     Needless  to  say,  the  church  has  made  some 
changes  in  its  rules  since  that  day. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        283 

The  church  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Jesus 
exhibited  only  that  incipient  stage  of  communism 
growing  inevitably  out  of  his  pronounced  humanism 
and  his  avowed  distrust  of  things  material.  It  was  a 
communism  of  persons  rather  than  of  possessions,  the 
possessions  being  disposed  of  on  the  threshold  of  the 
church  before  entering.  The  church  had  not  yet 
come  to  the  consciousness  of  needing  money,  nor  to 
the  consciousness  of  ability  to  make  better  use  of  it 
for  the  poor,  or  otherwise,  than  the  candidates  for 
membership  were  likely  to  make ;  it  was  content  to 
require  of  them  that  they  distribute  their  possessions 
in  alms,  whereupon  they  might  come  into  the  fellow- 
ship with  pure  hearts,  and  with  hands  clean  of  filthy 
lucre.  Later  the  idea  of  Jesus  received  some  develop- 
ment, and  candidates  for  admission,  after  converting 
their  estates  into  money,  turned  the  proceeds  into  the 
treasury  of  the  church  to  be  used  for  the  needs  and 
at  the  discretion  of  the  community  of  believers.* 

INWARD    AND    OUTWARD    CONDITIONS 

The  communism  of  the  early  church  was  a  natural 
outcome  of  the  Master's  teaching,  though  nowhere 
definitely  formulated  by  him.  To  him  economic  mat- 
ters were  too  slight  a  concernment  and  of  too  transi- 
tory a  nature  to  call  for  much  attention.  He  felt  and 
avowed  an  indifference  to  them,  and  sought  by  a 
belittling  of  outward  and  visible  things  to  turn  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers  toward  the  spiritual  and  invis- 


*  Acts  4:32-35. 


284  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ible.  His  voice  is  still  pleading:  the  inward  is  of 
more  consequence  than  the  outward,  the  life  more 
than  food  ;  think,  then,  how  life  may  be  greatened 
and  bettered,  and  trust  the  foodful  earth  to  grow 
enough  for  the  nourishment  of  all  who  live  upon  it. 
Do  not  trouble  about  what  you  will  have  to  eat,  what 
clothes  you  will  have  to  wear ;  think  rather  how  to 
live  uprightly.  Look  out  for  the  inner  man  ;  Nature 
may  be  trusted  to  provide  for  outward  needs.*  He 
did  not  fail  to  see  that  social  conditions  were  out  of 
joint  and  working  wretchedly ;  in  fact,  the  human 
world  in  its  organization,  its  government,  its  super- 
position of  classes,  its  exploiting  of  the  weak  by  the 
strong,  was  so  obnoxious  to  him  that,  seeing  no  way 
of  renovation  in  the  natural  course  of  things,  he  held 
that  the  divine  justice  must  supervene  and,  by  a 
manifestation  of  power  such  as  never  was  seen  since 
first  the  world  stood,  set  aside  the  whole  accursed 
system  of  things  ;  f  and  this  most  momentous  over- 
turning was  coming  so  soon  —  within  the  lifetime  of 
those  to  whom  he  spoke  |  —  that  there  was  no  use  in 
undertaking  to  reconstruct  the  old  social  mechan- 
ism, a  task,  moreover,  which  must  have  looked  too 
formidable  for  human  accomplishment  within  any 
assignable  time. 


*Matt.  6:19-34. 

t  Matt.  24  :  27  ;  Mark  13  :  26  ;   Luke  21  :  32. 

J  Matt.  16:28;  Luke  21:  32. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        285 

THE    OLD    ORDER    NOT    PASSING    MUST    BE    ASSAILED 
AND    DESTROYED 

With  his  anticipation  of  the  near  approach  of  "  the 
last  day,"  in  which  the  existing  social  order  should 
receive  its  coiip  de  grace  at  the  hand  of  an  irresistible 
Power,  it  was  but  natural  that  Jesus,  leaving  con- 
ditions which  seemed  past  remedy  to  go  their  way 
to  their  appalling  consummation,  should  direct  his 
efforts  to  the  rescue  of  individual  souls,  to  a  work  of 
inward  purification  whereby  an  elect  few,  at  any  rate, 
might  be  saved  from  the  impending  wreck  of  the 
old  world,* 

But  the  end  of  what  had  been  did  not  come.  The 
sun  was  not  darkened ;  the  moon  has  not  turned 
to  blood,  much  occasion  as  she  had  to  crimson  at 
what  she  looked  down  upon  through  the  centuries,  f 
No  supernatural  hand  having  intervened,  as  was 
expected,  to  do  away  with  the  old  and  bring  in 
a  new  order,  that  task,  prodigious  as  it  is,  falls  to 
human  agencies,  and  falls  peremptorily  by  all  the 
force  of  Jesus'  word.  His  kingdom  cannot  come 
without  a  transformation  of  outward  conditions.  It  is 
mockery  to  ask  for  it  while  consenting  to  a  system 
which  blocks  its  advance,  a  system  which  regularly 
corrupts  and  defiles,  which,  not  content  with  leading 
the  world  into  temptation,  infalliby  weakens  where 


*  Matt.  24:29-31. 

t  Expressions,  however,  which  may  well  be  taken  as  referring  only 
to  eclipses,  the  reddish  earth-shine  on  the  face  of  the  moon  during 
totality  suggesting  the  phraseology  "  turned  into  blood." 


286  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

it  does  not  destroy  the  power  to  resist  temptation. 
Many  and  important  steps  toward  this  transformation 
have  already  been  taken,*  every  one  of  them  full  in 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel  teaching.  The  world,  urged 
on  by  that  spirit  while  so  largely  disregarding  it,  is 
tending  unmistakably  to  an  order  of  things  accordant 
therewith,  and  which  when  it  comes  will  be  on  all  sides 
conducive  to  the  virtues  and  not  to  the  vices. 

And  this  coming,  what  is  it  in  reality  but  that 
which  is  foreshadowed  in  the  gospels  where  Jesus,  see- 
ing the  impossibility,  within  the  brief  period  allotted 
him,  of  shaping  social  conditions  to  make  them  favor- 
able to  the  establishment  of  his  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace,  declared  that  in  due  time  the  Son 
of  Man  would  return,  coming  "in  power  and  great 
glory,"  to  clear  the  way  for  his  kingdom  and  bring  it 
fully  in  .?  Without  resorting  to  any  fine-spun  theory 
of  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment,  it  may  not  be  out  of 
the  way  here  to  say  that  of  all  things  that  have 
ever  been  dreamed  of  or  hoped  for,  socialism,  rightly 
understood,  best  answers  to  the  Parousia  or  second 
coming  of  Jesus  as  set  forth  in  certain  passages  of 
gospels  and  epistles.  Not  that  this  movement  was 
definitely  in  the  mind  of  speaker  or  writer,  but  that  it 
suits  to  what  they  had  in  mind,  be  that  what  it  may, 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  attention.  Even  capitalism, 
as  monstrously  developed  in  our  day,  cannot  escape 
seeming  to  be  limned  under  the  figure  of  the  "  man 
of  sin,"  far  better  than  Rome  was,  in  the  passage  :  — 


*See  Chapter  II. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        287 

"  Let  no  man  deceive  you  by  any  means  ;  for  that 
day  will  not  come  unless  there  be  a  falling  away  first 
and  that  man  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition, 
who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is 
called  God  or  that  is  worshiped,  so  that  he  as  God 
sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he 
is  God.  .  .  .  The  mystery  of  lawlessness  is  already 
working,  ,  .  .  and  in  time  will  the  lawless  one  be 
revealed,  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  will  consume  with  the 
breath  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  with  the  manifesta- 
tion of  his  coming."  *  And  how  shall  the  preachers 
under  capitalism  who  minister  only  to  the  rich,  avoid 
seeing  themselves  referred  to  in  this  ?  — 

"  And  many  will  follow  their  pernicious  ways  ;  by 
reason  of  which  the  way  of  truth  will  be  evil  spoken 
of.  And  through  covetousness  will  they  with  feigned 
words  make  merchandise  of  you  ;  whose  judgment 
now  for  a  long  time  lingereth  not,  and  their  damna- 
tion slumbereth  not."  f 

Of  the  *'  second  coming  "  we  are  told  that  it  was 
not  to  be  under  cover,  hidden  away  in  a  corner  ;  no 
one  village  or  city  was  to  be  distinguished  as  the 
place  of  the  great  appearing.  It  was  to  be  a  world- 
wide manifestation,  everywhere  seen  and  everywhere 
significant.  The  Master's  caution  is,  not  to  be  de- 
ceived by  any  local  pretender,  for  many  such  will 
rise  and  will  lead  away  many ;  people  will  acclaim  a 
Christ  here  and  a  Christ  there.  "  If  therefore  they 
say  to  you, '  Lo  !  he  is  in  the  wilderness,'  go  not  forth  ; 


♦II  Thess.  2:3-8.  t  II  Peter  2  : 2, 3. 


288  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

or,  '  Lo !  he  is  in  private  chambers,'  beheve  them 
not.  F'or  as  the  Hghtning  cometh  from  the  east  and 
shineth  to  the  west,  so  will  be  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man."  *  This  is  a  brilliantly  poetic  characterization 
of  the  rise  of  the  modern  socialist  movement,  which 
indeed  has  flashed  as  the  lightning  round  the  whole 
world. 

But  the  fitness  of  this  representation  of  socialism 
lies  not  so  much  in  the  manner  of  its  coming  as  in 
what  it  brings  with  it,  what  it  proposes  to  do,  which 
is  nothing  less  than  to  shape  the  conditions  of  human 
life  in  accordance  with  gospel  precepts  ;  to  accom- 
plish that  for  which  the  life  of  Jesus  was  all  too  short 
and  for  which  he  felt  that  he  must  needs  come  again, 
namely,  to  sweep  away  the  old  social  order,  built  on 
principles  hostile  to  the  Golden  Rule,  generating  all 
manner  of  cupidity  and  covetousness,  outrage  and 
abomination,  and  set  up  in  its  place  a  new  order 
founded  in  justice  and  making  for  practical  brother- 
hood, the  "  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness."  |  These  things  which  have 
come  largely  to  be  reckoned  mere  visions  and  dreams, 
**  too  good  to  be  true,"  or  else  pertaining  to  some 
other  state  of  existence,  are  to  be  realized  in  a  veri- 
table Parousia  here  in  this  world  by  creatures  of  fiesh 
and  blood  like  ourselves.  But  it  is  not  to  come  out 
of  any  such  simple  plan  as  that  of  the  English  Chris- 
tian socialists  of  the  last  century,  who  seemed  to 
think  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  start  a  few  co-operative 


*Matt.  24:26,27.         t  II  Peter  3:  13;  Rev.  21:1,  10,  24-26. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        289 

associations  ;  it  is  interesting  however  to  note  that 
they  looked  for  the  millennium  to  follow  close  on  the 
heels  of  their  little  scheme.  "  I  was  convinced  that 
we  had  nothing  to  do  but  just  to  announce  it,  and 
found  an  association  or  two,"  said  Thomas  Hughes 
when  enthusiasm  had  subsided,  "  in  order  to  convert 
all  England  and  usher  in  the  millennium  at  once,  so 
plain  did  the  whole  thing  look  to  me."  And  the  ma- 
jority of  his  associates  seemed  to  have  the  same  con- 
fidence. Even  their  poorly  inadequate  socialism  had 
to  their  Christian  consciousness  the  suggestion  of  a 
second  coming  of  Christ.  Their  error  was  in  thinking 
that  large  results  can  flow  from  little  causes.  The 
great  social  reconstruction  is  to  be  effected  only  by 
measures  commensurate  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking. 

We  get  no  impression  from  the  assurances  of  a 
second  coming  that  the  reappearing  Christ  is  to  lack 
anything  of  that  pristine  vigor  which  hurled  defiance 
in  the  teeth  of  the  rich  and  titled,  overturned  the 
tables  of  the  money-changers  in  the  temple,  denounced 
the  speculators,  and  with  "  a  scourge  of  cords  "  drove 
sheep  and  oxen  and  owners  out.*  On  the  contrary  he 
takes  on  a  new  severity,  shows  the  strong  arm,  for  he 
comes  to  deal  with  a  situation,  with  hard  economic 
facts  which  evoke  none  of  the  pitying  tenderness 
which  characterized  his  intercourse  with  the  poor  and 
suffering  and  downtrodden  in  Galilee.  This  time  his 
mission  is  different ;  he  is  going  to  break  things  ;  or, 


*Matt.  23:4-36;   Mark  12:38-40;   Luke  11  :  37-44;   John  2:14-15. 


290  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

as  the  scripture  forcefully  puts  it,  "  to  destroy  the 
destroyers  of  the  earth."  *  But  this  severity  is  only 
to  clear  away  the  obstacles  to  the  reign  of  equity  and 
of  brotherliness.  He,  in  the  new  role,  is  a  terror  only 
to  the  workers  of  iniquity,  the  evil-minded  whose  deeds 
are  "  after  the  working  of  Satan  with  all  power  and 
signs  and  wonders  of  falsehood,  and  in  all  deceit  of 
unrighteousness  for  those  who  are  perishing."  f  They 
who  are  seeking  the  welfare  of  the  world  rejoice  in 
the  new  day,  and  enter  upon  its  privileges  with  bound- 
ing hearts.  "  From  the  east  and  the  west  and  the 
north  and  the  south  will  men  come,  and  take  their 
places  at  table  in  the  kingdom  of  God."  "  Then  shall 
the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom 
of  their  Father."  J 

SOCIALISM    THE    REAL    SECOND    COMING    OF    CHRIST 

In  all  soberness  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
since  the  life  of  Jesus  went  out  upon  the  cross  no 
other  such  sign  of  his  reappearance  has  been  seen  as 
is  offered  by  the  socialist  movement.  How  far  that 
movement  may  reasonably  be  so  interpreted,  they  who 
know  it  to  the  bottom  and  are  freest  from  religious 
or  anti-religious  prejudices  are  best  able  to  judge. 
Two  pre-suppositions  should  count  in  passing  upon 
the  matter.  (1)  The  realization  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  awaits  a  radical  social  reconstruction.     Of  this 


*  Matt.  24  :  29-31  ;  Rev.  11  :  15-18  ;  20:2-10. 
t  II  Thess.  2:9,  10.     See  also  Rev.  6  :  15-17. 
t  Matt.  13:43;   Luke  13:29. 


i 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        291 

what  could  be  more  nearly  demonstrative  than  the 
fact  that,  after  eighteen  and  a  half  centuries  of  Chris- 
tian effort,  nothing  approaching  such  a  realization  is 
to  be  seen  ?  The  tremendous  force  of  this  consid- 
eration comes  out  when  we  take  into  account  the 
Master's  own  hope  that  the  great  consummation 
might  be  reached  within  about  a  hundred  years  from 
the  date  of  his  birth.*  So  much  greater  than  even 
his  estimate  was  the  social  obstacle  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  aim  !  And  now,  but  for  the  socialist 
hope,  another  two  thousand  years  might  pass  without 
a  symptom  of  that  kingdom's  coming,  (2)  The  doc- 
trine of  the  Parousia,  or  second  coming,  seems  to 
have  been  prompted  by  the  felt  need  of  extirpating 
certain  economic  and  social  obstructions  standing  in 
the  way  of  the  realization  of  the  kingdom,  and  which 
are  not  to  be  got  rid  of  by  any  and  all  efforts  at  in- 
ward purification.  The  inward  draws  from  the  out- 
ward, and  if  the  outward  is  a  slough  of  pollution,  no 
process  of  inward  cleansing,  however  thorough  and 
persistent,  will  keep  the  heart  clear  of  the  swarm- 
ing microbes  of  perdition.  That,  to  insure  health, 
external  conditions  must  be  looked  after  as  well  as 
internal  ones,  is  better  known  now  than  it  was  in 
ancient  days  ;  so  too  the  fact  that  one  may  be  the 
victim  of  social  circumstances  no  matter  how  pure 
one's  acts  and  intentions  ;  but  sad  experience  forced 
these  points  home  in  some  measure  even  then.  The 
slow  and  resistless  movement  of  the  social  mcchan- 


*  Matt.  24  :  34 ;  Mark  9:1;  Luke  9  :  27. 


292  Import  mid  Outlook  of  Socialism 

ism,  directed  by  powerful  enemies,  kept  drawing  the 
Master  within  its  iron  grip,  and  full  soon  crushed  out 
his  life,  as  before  and  since  similar  machines  have 
crushed  no  one  can  say  how  many  more.  He  saw  its 
relentless  hand  reaching  out  after  him,  and  saw  then 
the  need  of  public  as  well  as  personal  purity,  of  social 
as  well  as  individual  regeneration ;  saw  that  outward 
conditions  work  their  fatalities  no  less  surely  than 
inward  conditions,  and  have  equal  need  of  shaping 
and  reshaping.  This  perception  bore  upon  his  thought 
of  what  remained  to  be  done  in  the  world  ere  his 
kingdom   could  come. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  proposition  that 
socialism  is  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  there  can 
be  no  question  that  its  aim,  put  in  Christian  terms, 
is  to  bring  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  socialism  is  the  one  force  in  the 
world  which  is  unequivocally  working  for  social  jus- 
tice, for  human  brotherhood,  for  the  abolition  of  class 
distinctions  by  making  labor  universal  and  securing 
to  every  laborer  the  full  product  of  his  toil ;  the  only 
force  that  is  frankly  working  for  the  deliverance  of 
all  men  and  women  from  injustice,  oppression,  and 
outrage,  and  to  give  that  uplift  to  the  lowly  which  is 
the  moving  spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  With- 
out avowing  anything  of  the  kind,  because  it  wishes 
to  stand  aloof  from  religious  questions  and  escape 
being  foredoomed  to  sterility  by  having  the  charge 
fixed  upon  it  of  being  another  religious  movement, 
socialism  is  in  its  essence  a  religion,  albeit  a  religion 
without  theology  and  without  a  church  ;  and  its  aim 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        2')3 

is,  if  not  the  building  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  which 
Jesus  had  in  mind,  at  least  a  clearing  of  the  ground  so 
as  to  make  the  building  possible. 

Socialism  will  make  a  practical  application  of  the 
ethics  of  Jesus.  It  will  expunge  involuntary  poverty, 
that  misery  old  as  civilization  and  worsening  as  civil- 
ization advances,  —  progress  and  poverty  going  hand 
in  hand  and  keeping  step  together,  —  misery  which 
so  appealed  to  the  heart  of  Jesus,  and  against  which 
the  church,  under  the  existing  social  order,  has  made 
its  long  contention,  mitigating  what  it  is  impotent  to 
abolish,  in  hopeless  inefficiency  "waiting  for  the  man- 
ifestation of  the  sons  of  God,"  the  appearance  of  him 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven  from  whose  face  the  old  order 
of  things  is  to  flee  awsay  ;  and  strangely  failing  to 
recognize  him  when  he  comes.  It  will  wipe  out  the 
shame  of  what  we  see  in  a  world  overflowing  with 
bounty  —  storehouses  bursting  with  plenty  of  all  the 
heart  can  desire,  and  yet  millions  in  rags  and  on  the 
verge  of  starvation  where  not  actually  starving,  and 
all  because  some  thousands  have  possessed  themselves 
of  the  bulk  of  what  is  good,  because  the  earth  is  the 
landlords',  and  to  them  and  to  the  other  lords  is  the 
fulness  thereof.  It  will  make  human  brotherhood 
more  than  an  empty  phrase  for  politicians  and  preach- 
ers to  conjure  with,  throwing  dust  in  the  eyes  of  a 
deluded  people  ;  for  it  will  create  in  collective  own- 
ership a  commonwealth  which  will  be  all  that  the 
word  implies,  binding  its  members  together  in  mu- 
tual helpfulness,  and  will  set  aside  forever  a  system 
which  stands  morally  condemned  as  tending  to  make 


294  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Ishmaels  of  us  all,  our  hand  against  every  man,  and 
every  man's  hand  against  us. 

To  get  directly  at  the  social  spirit  of  Jesus,  it  needs 
to  go  to  to  his  word  on  social  matters.  This  v^e  have, 
apropos  of  an  invitation  to  a  social  gathering  which 
he  received  from  some  one  of  the  well-to-do  with 
whom  he  felt  free  to  speak.  The  passage  is  brief, 
but  markedly  characteristic,  and  runs  as  follows  : 

"And  he  said  also  to  the  one  who  invited  him: 
*  When  thou  makest  a  dinner  or  a  supper,  do  not 
invite  thy  friends,  nor  thy  brothers,  nor  thy  kins- 
men, nor  rich  neighbors  ;  lest  they  too  invite  thee  in 
return,  and  a  recompense  be  made  thee.  But  when 
thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the 
lame,  the  blind  ;  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed,  because 
they  cannot  recompense  thee ;  but  thou  shalt  be 
recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous.'  "  * 
We  mark  the  effect  of  the  conditions  under  which 
this  direction  was  given,  which  from  that  day  to  this 
have  generally  compelled  the  religious  teacher  to 
postpone  to  a  future  life  the  reward  of  any  unselfish 
action  ;  but  the  notable  thing  about  the  advice  is  that 
it  never  has  been  followed  —  save  in  exceptional  in- 
stances and  in  patronizing,  perfunctory  ways  —  and 
never  can  be  followed  under  these  conditions,  since 
they  make  social  distinctions  unescapable  and  of  su- 
perlative importance.  The  Master's  social  doctrine 
is  in  violent  antagonism  with  the  system  of  things 
then  existing  and   now  existing,  and  it  is  perfectly 


*Luke  14:12-14. 


Socialism  the  Applied  Ethics  of  Jesus        295 

apparent  what  the  final  upshot  of  such  ideas  must  be. 
That  they  lead  straight  on  to  socialism  will  hardly  be 
denied  except  by  past-masters  of  obscurantism  bent 
on  reading  into  words  what  is  not  there,  and  on  read- 
ing out  what  they  were  meant  to  convey. 

A    RESTATEMENT    OF    THE    GOSPEL    OF    PEACE    NEEDED 

Jesus  has  been  called  the  Prince  of  Peace.  So,  we 
find  it  written,  he  was  rated  by  the  angels  who  sang 
his  natal  song.  And  the  great  distinction  he  himself 
bore  out  by  the  words  and  deeds  of  his  ministry.  It 
is  not  possible  for  people  who  accept  his  precepts  and 
faithfully  apply  them  to  fall  out  with  one  another. 
Hardly  can  it  be  that  one  imbued  with  his  spirit  and 
hearkening  to  his  word  will  fall  out  with  anybody. 
The  simple  obligation  to  be  reconciled  with  an  of- 
fended brother  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite  of  any 
act  of  worship,*  insured  in  the  primitive  church  a 
good  understanding  among  the  members.  The  voice 
that  is  said  to  have  calmed  the  sea  and  hushed  the 
rage  of  demons  was  as  a  bugle  sounding  over  the 
hills  of  Galilee  the  Truce  of  God  to  the  whole  human 
world.  So  it  seemed  ;  and  so  in  good  measure  it  was, 
with  the  church  at  least,  so  long  as  the  church  was 
a  humble  community  having  all  things  in  common, 
and  little  concerned  with  other  than  spiritual  matters. 
But  to  be  established  in  the  world,  peace  must  have 
behind  it  more  than  a  sentiment.  Good-will  will  not 
be  generally  maintained  on  the  mere  conviction  that 

*Matt.  5:23-24. 


296  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

any  breach  of  good-will  is  unrighteous.  If  society  is 
economically  so  constituted  that  the  personal  inter- 
ests of  its  members  are  in  unavoidable  conflict,  dis- 
agreements more  or  less  bitter  are  going  to  develop, 
no  matter  how  strong  the  feeling  may  be  that  it  is 
not  good  Christian  form  to  be  "on  the  war-path" 
with  one's  neighbors.  So,  too,  nations  whose  in- 
terests collide,  whose  enterprises  are  forestalled  by 
other  nations,  whose  profitable  "  spheres  of  influence" 
among  the  barbarians  are  invaded,  will  fight,  if  need 
be,  for  their  "rights,"  much  as  they  lov'e  the  gospel  of 
peace,  and  much  as  they  reverence  the  Prince  of  Peace. 
To  perfect  the  great  work  and  really  bring  peace 
among  men  it  needs  that  Christ  come  again,  and  with 
a  more  inclusive  gospel,  reaching  to  and  moulding 
outward  conditions  as  well  as  the  inward  spirit.  Men 
must  be  set  in  right  economic  relations  with  one 
another  if  they  are  to  be  effectually  saved  from  end- 
less, body-and-soul  destroying  conflict.  And  as  with 
individuals,  so  with  nations.  We  shall  never  have 
done  with  war  and  preparation  for  war  so  long  as  the 
existing  social  order  holds  sway,  perpetuating  its  rank 
inequalities  which  seldom  rest  on  any  slightest  ground 
of  moral  desert,  and  are  commonly  in  open  defiance 
of  human  service  rendered  or  not  rendered,  —  a  sys- 
tem which  conspicuously  nourishes  a  towering  selfish- 
ness, an  insatiable  greed,  an  anti-social  passion  to  hurt 
and  destroy,  to  fleece  and  devour.  Vain  is  it  to  cry, 
Peace,  peace !  and  still  stand  by  the  old  economic 
methods  which  have  bred  contention  since  history 
began.     It  is  such  a  palpable  waste  of  sentiment  as 


Socialism  the  Applied  Fjhics  of  Jesus        207 

to  seem  little  short  of  mockery.  To  be  sure,  war 
breaks  out  less  frequently  than  it  did ;  but  that  is  not 
from  any  decline  of  the  fighting  spirit,  it  is  because 
war  has  become  so  terribly  destructive  that  capitalists 
are  unable,  on  the  whole,  to  get  out  of  it  a  net  profit, 
and  because  for  them  the  spoils  of  peace  are  found 
to  exceed  the  spoils  of  war.  So  they  bring  into  "  the 
battle  of  life,"  into  production  and  exchange,  the 
prowess  that  once  was  more  exclusively  military,  the 
tricks  of  deception,  of  ambush  ;  modified  enginery  of 
siege  and  pillage ;  deploy  their  armies  of  toilers  in  a 
thousand  posts  of  danger,  making  little  account  of 
casualties,  which  are  by  no  means  few ;  and  heap  up 
millions  with  a  celerity  astonishing  even  to  those  they 
exploit.  Their  conflicts  are  with  one  another  —  where 
they  have  not  "  combined  " ;  with  their  employes  ;  with 
their  consciences  (when  encumbered  with  such  appur- 
tenances) ;  and  all  the  genius  displayed  by  Charles  of 
Sweden,  by  Frederick  the  Great,  by  Napoleon,  by 
Nelson,  comes  out  in  the  masters  of  finance  and  the 
captains  of  industry.  They  who  get  an  inside  glimpse 
of  the  operations,  who  observe  the  mercilessness  of  the 
movements  in  the  game,  who  witness  a  strike,  know 
how  little  it  all  differs  in  essence  from  a  state  of  war. 
These  methods,  this  system,  so  flagrantly  antago- 
nistic to  the  spirit  and  the  word  of  Jesus,  socialism 
would  extirpate,  root  and  branch.  So  doing,  it  would 
supplement  Christianity,  as  developed  since  apostolic 
times  ;  would  become,  as  Saint-Simon  contended,  "The 
New  Christianity,"  harking  back  to  and  reviving  the 
inspiration  of  the  Galilean  Founder.     Churchmen  of 


298  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

note  have  seen  the  need,  the  supreme  need  of  this 
return  to  the  Master,  of  this  intake  of  his  spirit,  and 
have  pleaded  with  the  church  not  to  be  forever  false 
to  his  leading ;  to  hear  the  call  so  long  unheard  ;  to 
become  herself  the  first  to  welcome  his  reappearing  \ 
to  go  forth  to  meet  him  coming  up  from  the  waste 
places  of  the  earth,  his  locks  wet  with  the  dews 
of  a  night  that  has  seemed  to  have  no  end.  What 
words  of  prophetic  appeal,  for  example,  are  these  of 
Lamennais  !  — 

"After  eighteen  centuries  of  Christianity  we  live 
yet  under  the  pagan  system.  In  the  name  of  the 
Sovereign  Author  of  things,  of  the  Celestial  Father 
who  embraces  all  his  children  in  one  same  love,  we 
have  proclaimed  equality,  liberty,  human  fraternity ; 
and  inequality  is  everywhere,  servitude  everywhere. 
Everywhere,  brother  has  riveted  to  the  feet  of  brother 
the  chain  of  slavery  ;  everywhere  the  people  groan 
under  a  sacrilegious  oppression  ;  everywhere,  in  place 
of  the  grand  and  sweet  face  of  Christ,  we  see  lift 
itself  the  specter  of  Cain. 

"  Brothers,  this  profound  disorder,  this  impious 
rebellion  against  God  and  His  law,  this  insolent,  this 
criminal  violation  of  the  vital  principles  of  humanity, 
ought  to  come  to  an  end.  You  cannot  permit  it 
longer  to  endure  without  rendering  yourselves  direct 
accomplices.  Interest,  duty,  all  high  considerations, 
urge  you  to  take  hold  of  the  holy  work  of  social 
regeneration."  * 


*  Paroles  (Pun   Croyani. 


i 


CHAPTER  XII 

SOCIALISM  AND  THE  CHURCH 

It  so  happened  that  the  modern  socialist  movement 
was  led  by  men  who  were  materialists  in  their  philos- 
ophy and  atheistic  touching  religion.  It  happened  so ; 
but,  for  aught  one  can  now  see,  it  might  have  happened 
otherwise,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  principles  of 
socialism  that  requires  an  adherent  to  be  an  atheist 
or  a  materialist.  But  these  men  wove  into  their 
elaborations  of  socialism  a  good  deal  of  their  philos- 
ophy, grounded  their  expectation  of  a  social  over- 
turning on  a  materialistic  determinism  in  history,  a 
kind  of  automatic  fatality,  suggesting  Calvinisrn  cut 
loose  from  God,  —  made  such  a  forceful  dogma  of 
this  that  the  whole  movement  took  the  impress  of  it, 
the  first  following  being  made  up  almost  exclusively 
of  free-thinkers,  atheists,  people  from  conviction 
alienated  from  the  church.  Other  things  came  in  to 
strengthen  the  trend  leftwards.  The  church  in  its 
conservatism  shrank  back  from  the  new  ideas,  and 
on  the  other  hand,  extremists  of  the  daring  type  took 
them  up  and  carried  them  forward  into  anarchy,  giving 
the  whole  scheme  through  the  early  years  of  the  prop- 
aganda a  hue  to  set  the  bulls  of  Bashan  crazy.  The 
anti-Christian  stamp  became  indelible,  and  not  even 
expulsion  of  the  anarchists  effaced  it.  One  still  en- 
counters it  in  many  circles  of  socialists,  and  oppo- 


300  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

nents  are  apt  to  make  much  of  the  fact,  forgetting 
what  reasons  there  are  for  it. 

The  people,  the  toiling  masses,  in  whose  breasts 
surged  the  consciousness  of  wrongs  endured  through 
the  centuries,  had  received  slight  tokens  of  sympathy 
from  the  church.  While  chapels  and  cathedrals  stood 
open  to  all  comers  with  a  look  of  hospitality,  while 
within  their  walls  noble  and  peasant  were  on  a  foot- 
ing of  something  like  equality,  the  organization  time 
out  of  mind  has  been  autocratic,  fashioned  from  the 
first  on  the  model  of  imperial  Rome.  Independent 
spirits  among  the  toilers  with  hand  or  with  brain, 
lovers  of  light  and  of  liberty,  have  seen  this,  have  felt 
it,  and  have  steadily  withdrawn  from  the  connection. 
They  could  not  forget  how  six  successive  popes  fought 
tooth  and  nail  to  suppress  Arnold  of  Brescia  and 
his  restoration  of  the  Roman  Republic ;  how  the 
hierarchy,  which  never  goes  down  with  the  fall  of  no 
matter  how  many  of  its  heads,  did  not  rest  till  it  had 
Arnold  in  its  hands,  hanged  him,  burned  him,  cast 
his  ashes  in  the  Tiber;  putting  out  so  the  light  of 
liberty  in  Italy,  save  for  some  gleams  from  Rienzi 
and  Savonarola,  for  seven  centuries.*    Nor  could  they 


*  In  our  day  in  America  we  occasionally  hear  from  Catholic 
sources  a  good  word  spoken  for  civil  and  religious  liberty ;  but 
they  deceive  themselves  who  infer  from  this  that  the  church  has 
reversed  its  attitude.  The  Pope  having  recently  condemned  Le 
Sillon,  a  French  Catholic  society  working  for  social  justice  in  very 
moderate  measure,  TAe  Catholic  Register  (Toronto)  comments  ap- 
provingly, giving  the  substance  of  the  papal  ban :  "  The  Sillon 
exalts  human  dignity,  liberty,  and  justice  beyond  measure ;  its  theo- 
ries tend  to  the  political,  economical,  and  intellectual  emancipation 
of  the  people,  and  to  the  abandonment  of  social  inequality,  to  the 


Socialism  and  the  Church  301 

forget  that  Luther,  peasant's  son  though  he  was, 
turned  against  the  peasants  in  their  war,  they  the 
weak  and  he  the  mighty,  and  made  Protestantism 
the  rival  of  the  older  church  as  champion  of  despotic 
power.  The  mortal  shame  of  this  was  the  fact  that 
the  peasants  had  ample  justification  for  their  uprising, 
and  moreover  were  followers  of  Luther,  looking  to 
him  as  their  leader  and  spiritual  father.  They  had 
formulated  their  demands  with  remarkable  calmness, 
basing  them,  like  good  Christians,  upon  the  gospel, 
making  a  document  of  eleven  articles,  the  simple 
enumeration  of  which  by  their  titles  affords  instruct- 
ive reading  now.  Stipulating  over  and  over  that 
they  wanted  nothing  which  could  not  be  shown  to 
be  in  accordance  with  the  gospel,  they  asked  for  the 
following  reforms,  religious  and  civil:  (1)  The  right 
of  congregations  to  choose  and  to  dismiss  (for  cause) 
their  own  pastors.  (2)  Some  slight  reduction  of 
tithes  paid  for  church  maintenance.  (3)  Abolition 
of  serfdom,  "  since  Christ  has  redeemed  us  all." 
(4)  Game,  fish  and  fowl  to  be  free,  as  God  created 
them.  (5)  Some  readjustment  of  forestry  rights, 
which  the  rich  had  monopolized.  (6,  7)  No  more 
compulsory  service  of  the  lords ;  except  as  by  con- 
tract, wages  to  be  paid  for  all  work.     (8)  Fair  rents. 


leveling  of  the  classes  and  the  suppression  of  authority,  which  goes 
to  show  that  it  wishes  to  overturn  the  old  and  natural  foundations 
of  society,  and  set  up  instead  the  autonomy  of  the  individual,  the 
authority  of  all,  and  the  universal  brotherhood.  The  Holy  Father 
rejects  this  dream,  so  full  of  errors  and  dangerous  illusions,"  etc. 
"  The  Holy  Father  shows  that  human  brotherhood,  while  a  spe- 
cious cry,  is  a  ■weak  bond  indeed,"  etc. 


302  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

(9)  Abolition  of  arbitrary  punishments.  (10)  The 
commons  to  be  restored  to  the  people.  (11)  The 
right  of  the  lord  to  take  the  peasant's  best  chattel  to 
be  abolished.  For  these  moderate  demands  the  poor 
peasants,  after  vainly  pleading  for  so  much  justice, 
took  up  arms  —  such  arms  as  they  had ;  whereupon 
Luther,  who  had  been  fair  enough  to  declare  for 
the  reasonableness  of  most  of  their  requests,  and  even 
to  urge  —  when  it  was  too  late  —  the  granting  of 
some  of  them,  pronounced  roundly  against  the  up- 
rising, in  a  writing  entitled,  "  The  Murdering,  Robbing 
Rats  of  Peasants,"  and  encouraged  the  nobles  to 
suppress  the  rebellion  with  fire  and  sword,  to  "  stab, 
kill,  and  strangle  "  the  wretches.  Practically  defense- 
less against  the  assaults  of  a  well-armed  soldiery, 
fully  fifty  thousand  peasants  were  mercilessly  butch- 
ered. It  is  not  in  human  nature  that  German  working- 
men  should  forget  that  abandonment  of  their  prede- 
cessors by  the  founder  of  German  Protestantism. 

Hardly  ever  or  anywhere  has  the  church  been 
openly  and  avowedly  with  the  people  against  their 
oppressors ;  on  the  contrary  it  has  decidedly  and 
persistently  upheld  the  strong  arm,  the  autocratic, 
irresponsible  authority.  Thus  in  the  older  countries, 
before  ever  socialism  was  thought  of,  and  for  good 
and  sufficient  reason,  the  church  lost  its  hold  upon 
the  great  body  of  intelligent  working-men  who  later 
became  socialists.  Becoming  socialists  has  had  little 
to  do  with  alienating  people  from  the  church ;  they 
were  alienated  beforehand;  their  becoming  socialists 
is  more  a  consequence  than  a  cause  of  this  alienation. 


Socialism  and  the  Church  303 

On  the  other  hand,  notwithstanding  the  reputation 
the  sociahst  body  has  had  of  being  made  up  of  the 
unrehgious,  as  matter  of  fact  the  principles  of 
sociaHsm  are  so  profoundly  humanitarian  as  to  have 
proved  exceedingly  attractive  to  a  considerable  number 
of  the  most  deeply  religious  souls  of  this  and  of  the 
preceding  century.  To  be  sure  some  of  these  have 
not  risen  above  their  prejudices,  have  yielded  to  them 
in  fact,  and  sought  by  forming  a  distinct  and  avowedly 
Christian  socialist  order  at  once  to  strengthen  the 
church  and  keep  the  faithful  from  the  harm  that 
might  come  from  association  with  unbelievers.  But 
this  has  been  mostly  in  Germany,  where  the  great 
strength  of  the  Social  Democracy  has  occasioned 
the  church,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  no  little 
disquietude.  Needless  to  say,  a  socialism  which  is 
espoused  primarily  to  serve  another  end,  to  take  the 
wind  out  of  the  sails  of  the  party  for  the  benefit  of 
the  church,  will  be  a  rather  colorless  type  not  much 
to  be  counted  on.  Elsewhere  a  more  whok-hearted 
devotion  to  the  new  social  ideas  has  been  shown  by 
churchmen  whose  clear  vision  discerns  the  under- 
lying reality  uniting  some  things  which  are  super- 
ficially opposed.  Early  prophet  and  prince  of  these 
stood  Lamennais  in  France,  and  to  him  with  pride 
and  reverence  turn  the  eyes  of  hundreds  of  English 
and  American  clerg)'men,  active  and  retired,  who  now 
stand  committed  heart  and  soul  to  the  great  cause, 
and  who  are  giving  a  positively  religious  cast  to  the 
literature  of  socialism. 


304  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

THE  MODERN  CHURCH  AND  THE  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT 

But  this  does  not  change  the  fact  that  the  church 
as  a  whole,  of  every  name,  stands  aloof  from  the 
socialist  movement,  holding  it  Utopian,  revolutionary, 
a  scheme  of  spoliation  and  ruin,  —  in  other  words, 
accepting  things  as  they  are,  with  no  other  meliora- 
tion, present  or  prospective,  than  may  be  effected  by 
Christian  charity,  the  condescension  of  the  pious  rich, 
and,  on  the  part  of  the  poor,  a  more  willing  obedience 
to  their  masters.  Reasons  enough  can  be  given  in 
explanation  of  this  attitude.  The  church,  as  it  exists 
in  these  days,  is  an  expensive  institution,  the  most 
expensive  in  the  world,  perhaps,  for  what  it  seems 
to  accomplish.  What  seems  is  of  course  not  all;  but 
it  is  all  that  is  measurable.  To  begin  with,  the  cost 
of  housing  this  institution  is  enormous ;  then  the 
cost  of  maintenance  is  large  and  met  ordinarily  only 
by  a  struggle  of  whose  severity  they,  and  only  they, 
know  who  have  had  a  hand  in  it.  As  compared  with 
other  public  institutions,  schools,  libraries,  hospitals, 
and  measured  by  the  work  done  and  the  number  of 
persons  directly  benefited,  it  mounts  in  expensiveness 
above  them  all.  Plenty  of  churches  with  an  average 
attendance  of  fifty  or  less  have  an  annual  budget 
to  carry  of  $10,000  or  more;  which  means  (if  the 
congregation  pays  the  bills)  an  average  tax  per 
Sunday  on  each  man,  woman,  and  child  of  at  least 
four  dollars.  Even  where  the  outlay  is  considerably 
less,  it  is  still  high  enough  to  exclude  all  but  the 
well-to-do.     And,  under  existing  conditions,  there  is 


Socialism  and  the  Church  305 

no  way  of  getting  around  this.  The  device  of  "  free 
seats "  deceives  nobody ;  current  expenses  are  not 
avoided  in  that  way;  the  bills  have  still  to  be  paid. 
Hence,  and  inevitably,  the  church  becomes  virtually 
a  capitalistic  institution.  Capitalists,  members  or  non- 
members,  attendants  or  non-attendants,  in  the  main 
support  it,  and  for  reasons  of  their  own.  They 
consider  it  a  conservative  influence  in  the  community, 
a  buttress  of  things  established,  a  bulwark  against  all 
sorts  of  radicalism  endangering  property  rights  and 
threatening  social  revolution. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  greatest  effort  will 
be  made  by  every  church,  in  sharp  competition  with 
every  other  in  the  vicinity,  to  secure  the  patronage 
of  any  man  of  wealth  who  comes  within  reach,  and 
the  greatest  care  will  be  taken  by  minister  and  people 
not  to  alienate  such  a  valuable  friend  once  his  name 
is  on  the  books.  The  more  of  his  sort  who  are 
brought  in,  the  easier  the  machinery  runs ;  the  church 
that  has  a  goodly  number  of  them  can  pick  its 
preacher  out  of  the  most  talented,  and  is  considered 
a  bonanza  for  the  minister  who  gets  it.  It  is  reputed 
far  and  wide  to  be  in  a  "  state  of  grace,"  it  makes 
liberal  contributions  for  denominational  enterprises, 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  and  the  heathen,  for 
the  standard  local  charities;  it  is  a  model  church, 
the  envy  and  the  despair  of  all  the  weaker  sort.  The 
membership,  large  or  small,  is  in  seething  activity, 
closely  knit  together,  forming  a  social  union  quite 
happy  in  itself,  which  implies  that  the  members  are 
substantially  of    one  class.     And    this   of   necessity. 


306  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

As  things  are  in  our  world  they  could  not  work 
together  otherwise.  They  go  out  to  help  the  poor, 
but  the  poor  are  not  with  them  nor  of  them.  If 
the  poor  want  a  church  they  go  by  themselves.  But 
they  are  not  calling  for  it  very  loudly;  do  not  much 
flock  to  it  when  it  is  built  for  them. 

One  of  the  evidences  adduced  of  the  genuineness 
of  the  claims  of  Jesus  was  that  "  the  poor  have  the 
gospel  preached  to  them."  The  example  he  set  in 
this  matter  was  followed  through  the  first  Christian 
centuries.  Christians  then  could  be  brothers  together, 
as  they  were  of  one  class,  all  out  of  the  substratum 
of  society  —  God's  poor  —  the  class  that  first  had  the 
gospel  preached  to  them.  But  since  then  the  church 
has  drifted  far  and  away  from  that  fashion.  These 
fifteen  hundred  years  it  has  been  in  alliance  with  the 
high  and  mighty.  The  needle's  eye  has  been  magni- 
fied into  an  archway  through  vvhich  camels  pass  with 
entire  ease,  bearing  the  rich  into  the  heavenly  king- 
dom. Meantime  the  poor,  like  dogs  in  ancient  Jewry, 
have  had  to  content  themselves  in  spiritual  as  in 
temporal  things,  with  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  their 
masters'  tables. 

So,  in  Protestant  connections,  there  is  a  pretty 
distinct  cleavage  of  the  world  along  church  lines  to 
correspond  with  the  cleavage  on  social  lines.  The 
rich  and  people  of  good  incomes,  such  of  them  as 
are  religiously  inclined,  are  in  the  churches,  or  if 
not  in  them  then  behind  them;  the  poor  generally 
have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter,  and  have  reso- 


Socialism  and  the  Church  307 

lutely  determined  not  to  have  any  part  in  it,  having 
in  a  manner  adjusted  themselves  to  the  situation. 

It  is  impossible,  under  the  existing  state  of  things 
but  that  the  church  must  be  in  all  this  substantially 
what  it  is.  In  a  world  where  money  makes  every- 
thing else  go,  it  of  course  makes  the  church  go. 
So  here  as  elsewhere  the  first  and  foremost  thing  is 
the  financial  situation.  If  that  is  dark,  everything 
is  dark,  and  there  is  no  prospect.  If  that  is  bright, 
all  is  bright,  and  heaven  sits  smiling  on  the  billowy 
sea  (or  pond)  of  upturned  faces.  But  to  depend 
on  money  is  to  depend  on  persons  who  have  money ; 
and  so  it  is  inevitable  that  the  few  rich  in  a  con- 
gregation, even  though  not  in  the  least  domineering, 
will  dominate.  Not  only  will  it  fall  to  them  to  shape 
the  policy  of  the  body  at  their  pleasure,  it  is  quite 
in  their  power,  and  that,  too,  without  the  slightest 
s/iow  of  interference,  to  prompt  or  to  stay  the  word 
of  the  preacher.  At  all  events  the  minister  who  is 
not  disposed  to  bow  to  the  wishes  of  these  men  and 
women  in  what  he  has  to  say,  needs  to  be  prepared 
to  take  up  his  grip  and  depart.  If  he  is  a  convinced 
socialist,  for  example,  he  knows  better  than  to  say 
so  without  first  making  sure  that  these  persons  are 
tolerant  of  socialism.  If  he  knows  they  are  not,  and 
still  proposes  to  stick  to  his  post,  his  tongue  is 
effectually  tied;  for,  not  even  to  deliver  the  burden 
of  his  soul  can  he  say  that  which  will  cost  the  church 
the  main  sources  of  its  support.  How  many  occupants 
of  pulpits  up  and  down  the  land  would  like  to  be 


308  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

prophets  and  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  and 
yet  cannot! 

We  are  in  face  of  this  strange  and  double  paradox : 
on  the  one  hand  the  church,  disregarding  the  spirit 
and  the  precepts  of  its  Founder  as  they  bear  on  the 
social  question,  taking  with  practical  unanimity,  in 
the  great  division  over  that  question  now  being  called, 
the  side  of  the  rich  against  the  poor;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  socialism,  worked  out  as  a  system  and 
adhered  to  mainly  •  by  men  and  women  who  do  not 
even  profess  to  be  Christians,  yet  a  system  so 
eminently  in  accord  with  the  moral  teaching  of  the 
gospel  that  we  seem  to  hear  in  it  the  voice  of  Jesus 
saying  again,  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  who  are  weary 
and  heavy-laden  " ;  —  the  paradox  of  scriptures  with, 
to  say  the  least,  a  strong  socialistic  leaning,  held  as 
the  basis  of  a  capitalistic  church ;  and  a  secular 
socialism  proclaiming  human  brotherhood,  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  lowly  and  oppressed,  and  seeking  to 
realize  a  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth  by  the  actual 
rescue  of  millions  fallen  among  robbers,  stript  of 
title  to  so  much  as  six  feet  of  earth  to  lay  their 
bodies  in,  and  left  wounded  and  half  dead  on  the 
downhill  Jericho  road. 

THE  BREACH  INEVITABLE  AND  APPARENTLY  PERPETUAL 

The  paradox,  bald  as  it  is,  stands,  and  is  going  to 
stand.  Strong  as  the  case  may  be  made  to  appear 
for  socialism  that  its  contentions  are  sound,  humani- 
tarian, just  and  righteous  altogether,  that  they  are 
implicit  in  the  gospel,  that  they  make   for  the  new 


Socialism  and  the  Church  309 

heavens  and  the  new  earth  therein  set  forth,  re- 
enforcing  the  hope  with  a  definite  plan  for  its 
reahzation,  —  it  nevertheless  seems  not  within  the 
limits  of  possibility  that  the  church  will  become  a 
furthering  agency  of  the  socialist  movement  in  time 
to  be  of  much  service.  By  the  very  nature  of  its 
organization  it  is  held  from  espousing  any  cause  so 
long  as  that  cause  is  unpopular,  —  so  long,  that  is, 
as  the  cause  is  in  need  of  its  support.  This  fatal 
backwardness  was  painfully  in  evidence  during  the 
anti-slavery  conflict.  The  sentiment  of  the  country 
had  to  be  turned  overwhelmingly  against  slavery  ere 
the  church  as  a  body  could  pronounce  for  abolition. 
The  few  preachers  who  ventured  to  speak  when  the 
cause  really  needed  advocacy,  had  a  rough  time  of  it. 
So  it  has  ever  been,  and  so,  apparently,  it  ever  must 
be.  As  regards  the  present  issue,  only  in  exceptional 
cases  can  the  pulpit  be  expected  to  champion  the  new 
ideas.  However  the  preacher  may  feel,  the  institu- 
tion is  almost  everywhere  in  the  hands  of  capitalists 
who  will  not  tolerate  such  a  proceeding.  Attempted, 
it  would,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  either  unseat  the 
preacher  or  disrupt  the  congregation.  So  the  preacher, 
in  all  sincerity,  is  led  to  hesitate,  to  question  the 
wisdom  of  uttering  his  honest  thought,  of  applying 
very  pointedly  the  ethics  of  Jesus,  of  pushing  home 
the  doctrine  of  universal  brotherhood,  of  insisting  on 
the  practice  of  the  Golden  Rule  in  ail  affairs,  though 
to  make  it  possible  the  present  heavens  should  have 
to  fall.  Having  thought  it  all  over,  unless  he  is  a 
very   extraordinary   man,   he    will    fall   back   on   the 


310  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

maxim  that  "  discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor," 
and  keep  the  peace  of  Zion  by  holding  his  own  peace. 

Theoretically  we  may  be  disposed  to  ask,  What 
would  Jesus  do  in  such  circumstances?  But  that  is 
hardly  a  practical  question,  since  we  cannot  for  a 
moment  suppose  our  preachers  to  have  either  his 
consecration  or  his  courage.  Moreover  there  rises 
the  obligation  of  the  minister  to  the  body  he  serves, 
whose  mouthpiece  he  in  a  manner  is  —  made  by 
virtue  of  his  office  as  priest  rather  than  prophet. 
In  accepting  the  function,  he  may  be  said  to  have 
bound  himself  to  fulfil  it,  or  retire  from  his  post ; 
and  therefore  the  silence  of  the  pulpit  where  to  some 
of  us  it  is  so  sad,  so  culpable  even,  is  not  to  be 
wholly  laid  on  the  preacher.  The  fault  is  of  the 
institution.  The  institution  cannot  rise  in  quality 
above  the  people  who  compose  it ;  it  has  their  blind- 
ness, their  prejudices,  their  ignorances ;  it  reflects 
their  short-comings  as  well  as  their  virtues. 

The  wide  departure  of  the  church  from  the  social 
ideas  of  its  Founder,  its  so  complete  passage  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  poor  to  become  an  association  of 
the  forehanded,  has  profoundly  affected  its  standing, 
its  influence,  its  vitality.  The  fact,  universally  ob- 
served but  not  always  admitted,  is  a  general  decline. 
Many  ministers  frankly  say :  "  We  have  lost  the 
poor,  and  now  the  rest  are  more  and  more  excusing 
themselves  from  church-going;  our  congregations  get 
ever  smaller;  young  men  of  any  parts  wishing  to 
study  for  the  ministry,  ever  fewer."  It  is  matter  of 
common  observation  that  there  is  less  power  in  the 


Socialism  and  the  Church  311 

pulpit  than  formerly,  less  enthusiasm  in  the  pews. 
The  very  activities  which  might  be  expected  to  belong 
exclusively  to  the  church,  social  settlements,  work  for 
temperance,  for  public  health,  for  civic  morality,  are 
largely  free  from  any  church  connection,  thousands 
who  once  would  have  been  "  pillars  of  the  temple  " 
finding  now  their  spiritual  satisfactions  apart  in  prac- 
tical, often  private,  philanthropies,  leaving  "  the  house 
of  God  "  sensibly  more  desolate.  People  are  none  the 
less  religious,  perhaps  ;  only  their  religion  finds  other 
ways  of  manifesting  itself.  There  is  a  new  type  of 
faith  —  if  one  may  so  speak,  using  an  old  word,  —  new 
hopes,  new  visions,  a  new  ideal  of  humanity.  The 
vague  expectation  of  new  developments  in  the  order 
of  the  social  world  becomes  ever  more  absorbing. 

The  question  arises  whether,  as  Bellamy  thought,  * 
there  is  to  be  a  great  religious  revival  in  which 
Christianity  will  be  renewed  and  set  forth  in  even 
more  than  its  pristine  purity,  becoming  a  message  to 
the  poor,  and  not  to  the  poor  alone;  coming  this 
time  as,  in  a  manner,  a  reappearing  of  the  Christ 
himself  to  establish  his  power,  f  Such  an  awaken- 
ing is  thinkable,  and,  considering  the  tremendous 
revolutionary  energy  stored  away  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment awaiting  the  use  which  socialist  preachers  alone 
can  make  of  it  without  endangering  their  own  exist- 
ence, it  would  seem  to  be  a  consummation  not  only 
"devoutly  to  be  wished,"  but  rea^^onably  to  be  ex- 
pected. Immediate  signs  going  to  strengthen  the  hope 
are    the    trend    to    the    new    standard    of    so    many 


Equality,  pp.  340ff.  t  See  preceding  chapter. 


312  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

Christian    ministers,    and    the    masterful    earnestness 
possessing  their  souls. 

A  GOSPEL,  THAT  MIGHT  BE  PREACHED 

The  existing  church  is  losing  its  hold  on  the  people 
partly  because  of  its  capitalistic  affiliation,  and  partly 
because  of  the  abstract,  insecure,  unengaging  character 
of  its  message.  So  much  dealing  with  things  unseen, 
with  marvels  and  mysteries,  with  the  life  to  come,  is 
no  longer  satisfying;  it  is  counted  dull.  Important 
as  such  preaching  may  be,  it  is  mostly  poured  into 
the  vacant  air.  Inward  purification  and  character- 
building,  the  staple  pulpit  topics,  we  must  admit  are 
vital  considerations,  not  to  be  left  out  of  account; 
but,  perpetually  dwelt  upon,  they  become  soporific. 
"  How  to  Lead  the  Beautiful  Life,"  told  over  a 
thousand  times,  gets  wearisome,  stale,  flat,  and  un- 
profitable, provoking  in  the  end  derision.  The  con- 
ditions under  which  we  have  to  live,  ways  of  im- 
proving them,  specific  deeds  of  brotherliness,  are  in 
general  far  more  pertinent  subjects  of  contemplation. 
The  world  that  now  is,  the  great  world  outside  of 
ourselves  which  bears  so  constantly  upon  us,  shaping 
our  ends  often  in  spite  of  ourselves  and  to  our 
detriment,  is  something  to  be  reckoned  with,  some- 
thing which  our  minds,  acting  in  concert  with  other 
minds,  may  shape  to  serve,  instead  of  thwarting,  our 
spiritual  development.  That  here  is  a  gospel  to  be 
preached  to  some  purpose  is  fairly  evident.  That  it 
would  soon  chain  attention  and  win  its  way,  there 
can  hardly  be  a  doubt.     We  have  seen  how  the  one 


Socialism  and  the  Church  313 

idea  of  health  and  healing  has  proved  suflficient  base 
for  a  religious  movement  the  most  prosperous  of 
modem  times,  bringing  together  great  and  growing 
congregations,  numerically  in  striking  contrast  with 
what  we  mostly  see.  An  infinitely  saner  and  broader 
movement,  dealing  with  far  more  important  concerns, 
proposing  to  turn  this  old  world  into  as  much  of  a  par- 
adise as  is  compatible  with  human  nature,  to  establish 
conditions  favorable  to  brotherliness  in  place  of  con- 
ditions obstructive,  prohibitory,  is  already  well  set  on 
foot,  and  might  easily  take  on  with  a  portion  of  its  fol- 
lowing a  distinctly  religious  character,  and  at  no  distant 
day  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  true  church  of  Christ, 
illuminated  by  all  later  knowledge,  and  going  straight 
to  the  realization  of  his  kingdom  in  the  world. 

That  great  conception  of  the  Master,  of  which  so- 
cialism in  its  aim  is  the  modern  counterpart,  slept  long 
within  the  lids  of  the  New  Testament.  Found  on  al- 
most every  page  of  the  synoptic  gospels,  the  thought 
of  "  the  kingdom  "  fades  gradually  out  of  the  later 
writings,  *  and  was  substantially  dropped  when  the 
expectation  of  a  second  advent  w^ent  down.  The  king- 
dom was  hardly  to  be  thought  of  without  a  king,  and 
as  the  king  indefinitely  delayed  his  coming,  the  idea 
passed  out  of  mind,  or  was  relegated  for  its  realization 
to  another  world.  But  in  the  gospels  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  often,  usually  in  fact,  a  transformation  of 
this  present  world  in  accordance  with  the  Master's 
moral  teaching,   a  new  and  better  order  of  society, 


♦For  a  view   of   relative   dates,    see    The   Evolution   of   a 
Great  Literature  by  the  present  writer. 


314  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

based  on  higher  principles  than  was  the  old  order. 
In  fact  the  very  word  "  kingdom,"  if  it  is  to  have  any 
sense  at  all,  implies  an  aggregation  of  people,  a  com- 
monwealth, a  society,  —  in  the  gospel  usage,  a  society 
of  equals,  of  brothers.  There  was  also  liberty  —  ''  the 
liberty  of  the  sons  of  God."  Thus  early,  and  thus 
remote  from  Paris,  the  great  trinity  of  political  ideas 
got  itself  pronounced :  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity. 
The  social  order  of  this  kingdom  was  not,  so  far  as  we 
are  told,  laid  down  in  detail,  much  being  left  to  the 
wisdom  of  after  generations ;  but  that  in  its  primitive 
form  it  differed  radically  from  the  order  of  the  rest 
of  the  world,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  was  naturally 
drawn,  by  the  earliest  church  and  the  only  one  whose 
example  in  this  matter  has  any  value  for  us,  from  the 
life  together  of  Jesus  and  his  twelve  disciples,  and  was 
simply  communistic.  Communism  is  historically  the 
first  step  in  socialism ;  and  so  in  practice  as  well  as  in 
principle  it  can  be  asserted  without  fear  of  contradic- 
tion that  socialism  has  a  better  footing  in  the  New 
Testament  than  any  one  of  the  Christian  sects. 

A  Socialist  Christian  movement  is,  therefore,  as 
feasible  as  a  Christian  Socialist  movement,  so  far  as 
a  base  in  the  Christian  scriptures  and  profound  rev- 
erence for  the  Prophet  of  Galilee  are  concerned.  But 
the  movement  will  not  take  the  form  of  a  church,  will 
not  let  itself  become  dependent  upon  contributions  of 
cash  or  of  what  cash  will  buy.  What  its  preachers 
have  to  give  they  will  give  without  money  and  without 
price,  freely  as  God  gives  it  to  them,  and  so  will  keep 
themselves  from  being  in  bondage  to  any  man. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  NEW  WORLD  IN  THE  MAKING 

In  dealing  with  projects  whose  development  is  in  the 
future,  the  temptation  is  strong  to  play  the  part  of 
foreteller.  But  it  is  a  hazardous  piece  of  business, 
especially  where  the  causes  depended  on  are  complex, 
or  the  denouement  at  all  remote.  The  insuccess  of  all 
detailed  vaticinations  not  of  the  post  eventum  variety, 
ought  to  be  a  warning  to  any  would-be  explorer  of  the 
as  yet  unseen  waters  to  moor  his  bark  by  the  shores 
of  silence,  or  to  adventure  only  within  ear-shot  of 
land.  So  many  things  not  dreamt  of  in  any  one's 
philosophy  —  inventions,  discoveries,  of  epoch-making 
significance,  subtle  but  far-reaching  modifications  of 
thought  —  are  possible  to  occur ;  so  many  forces  now 
controlling  may  become  inefifective,  supplanted  or  nulli- 
fied by  other  forces,  —  that  even  speculative  minds 
find  it  best  not  to  particularize  about  what  is  to  be 
even  a  few  decades  hence.  What  does  not  yet  exist, 
and  what  lies  beyond  the  reach  of  knowledge,  have 
but  a  moderate  interest  for  us,  and  efiforts  to  set  forth 
things  out  of  those  categories  look  childish  and  are  a 
waste  of  time.  Bellamy's  visions  into  a  coming  cent- 
ury are  saved  from  being  a  weariness  to  the  flesh 
by  frankly  taking  the  form  of  romance.  It  is  safer 
not  to  peer  ahead  too  far,  and  to  say,  with  Bernstein, 
that  as  to  the  future  we  will  concern  ourselves  only 
with  what  is  immediately  before  us.     Nothing  beyond 


316  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

the  merest  fringe  of  it  is  to  be  descried  with  any 
confidence. 

What  we  can  observe  is  a  transition  taking  place 
under  our  eyes.  It  comes  out  in  comparing  the  pres- 
ent with  the  past,  even  the  past  of  yesterday.  We 
note  tendencies  largely  continuous  through  a  long  time 
gone  by,  and  which  obviously  have  not  yet  run  their 
course ;  and  therein  is  the  new  world  in  its  making. 
To  be  sure  the  story  thus  told  is  prosaic,  lacking  alto- 
gether the  brilliancy  of  a  picture  presenting  the  com- 
pleted work  set  in  vivid  contrast  with  all  the  ugli- 
nesses of  the  world  we  know,  but  it  has  on  its  side 
certitude  and  reality. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  socialist  programme 
is  in  the  nature  of  an  experiment,  or,  if  you  please, 
of  a  demonstration,  and  that  it  has  to  take  its  place 
in  the  endless  procedure  of  social  evolution.  No  sud- 
den and  sweeping  change  of  so  complex  a  thing  as 
human  society  at  its  present  stage  is  possible ;  what 
is  to  be  expected  is  modification  by  slow  degrees  — 
such  modification  as  has  been  going  on  with  lessening 
sluggishness  time  out  of  mind  —  each  forward  step, 
with  the  readjustments  it  necessitates,  preparing  the 
way  for  the  step  to  follow;  the  whole  process  being 
nothing  other  than  the  natural  development  of  the  so- 
cial organism  under  the  impelling  force  of  economic 
principles  and  moral  ideas.  Nothing  like  a  revolution 
can  now  be  inaugurated ;  if  for  no  other  reason,  for 
lack  of  an  influential  majority.  And  if  the  requisite 
majority  were  anywhere  to  be  mustered,  no  people, 
not   even    the  nimble   and  versatile  Japanese,   could 


The  New  World  in  the  Making  317 

stand  the  shock  of  an  abrupt  change  from  the  present 
to  the  sociaHst  order.  In  all  things,  by  use  and  wont 
we  make  our  approaches  to  the  best  ways.  The  in- 
dispensable majority  for  the  final  step  into  socialism 
is  not  likely  to  be  obtained  until  approaches  enough 
have  been  made  to  render  that  step  safe,  feasible,  free 
from  any  slightest  apprehension  that  it  will  have  to  be 
retraced.  Socialism,  as  nobody  needs  to  be  told,  is  at 
present  far  from  popular;  but  movements  in  the  di- 
rection of  socialism  are  popular,  and  long  have  been. 
What  more  secure  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  than 
the  plan  of  educating  all  the  children  at  public  ex- 
pense, or  the  plan  of  building  libraries,  art-galleries, 
museums,  at  public  expense,  free  to  all  comers?  Laws 
protecting  laborers  from  undue  exactions,  affirming 
employers'  liability  for  injuries,  instituting  old-age 
pensions,  protecting  the  people  from  the  rapacity  of 
corporations,  are  popular.  Every  decade,  capital  is 
being  subjected  to  regulations  more  and  more  strin- 
gent, more  and  more  socialistic.  These  are  the  steps 
forward  toward  the  goal,  the  means  —  preliminary 
and  to  be  followed  by  others  more  drastic  —  making 
for  the  great  consummation.  Each  advance,  neces- 
sitating a  readjustment  of  opinion  and  custom,  paves 
the  way  for  another  and  more  considerable  advance ; 
and  so  the  march  goes  on  —  whither,  not  even  its 
opponents  are  in  doubt. 

We  are  generally  inclined  to  regard  with  impatience 
the  slow  progress  that  is  being  made,  the  little  sign 
there  yet  is  of  the  complete  realization  of  our  dreams. 
We  forget  the  infinite  tasks  involved.     Some  of  the 


318  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

preliminary  steps  are  sadly  retarded  just  for  lack  of 
preparation.  Municipal  ownership  of  public  utilities 
halts  on  account  of  the  astounding  corruption  so  often 
brought  to  light  in  our  city  governments.  Every  time 
one  of  these  disgraceful  situations  is  unveiled,  judg- 
ment is  taken  against  enlarging  the  responsibilities 
of  Common  Councils.  State  governments,  if  not  as 
bad,  are  yet  far  from  being  up  to  the  requirements 
of  a  system  which  would  lodge  in  the  State  posses- 
sion and  control  of  the  chief  means  of  industry  — 
land,  factories,  facilities  of  transportation  and  of  ex- 
change —  a  system  which  calls  for  supreme  executive 
ability,  statesmanship,  financial  genius,  and  unim- 
peachable character  in  every  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  its  agents.  Not  till  we  begin  to  see  in 
charge  of  State  concerns  men  who  in  private  life 
would  be  held  mentally  adequate  and  morally  suitable 
to  tasks  of  equal  importance,  can  we  expect  people 
to  favor  the  project  of  acquiring  a  vast  collective 
property  to  be  managed  by  State  officials.  The  task 
of  preparation  for  the  new  order  is  great  beyond 
estimation.  We  have  set  before  ourselves  so  high 
an  aim  that  its  speedy  attainment  is  not  to  be  looked 
for;  nor  can  we  expect  such  an  end  to  be  furthered 
by  any  fortuitous  circumstance  —  commotion  among 
the  nations,  or  some  one  here  or  there  seeing  a  strange 
light.  The  Holy  City  is  not  going  to  drop  down  upon 
the  world  out  of  the  skies,  as  the  apocalypse  strangely 
says;  it  has  got  to  be  built  up  here  below  by  human 
hands,  long  though  the  work  may  prove,  many  as  the 
failures  may  be. 


The  Nciv  World  in  the  Making  319 

What  intensifies  the  difficulty  is  the  necessity  we 
are  under  of  preparing  for  the  socialistic  order  while 
encumbered  with  all  the  drawbacks  of  the  old  order, 
—  empoisoned  by  the  avarice  the  old  has  engendered, 
corrupted  by  its  luxuries  or  debased  by  its  want,  un- 
manned by  the  false  estimate  of  values  instilled  by  its 
worship  of  Mammon.  In  a  coming  century  it  will 
be  hard  for  anybody  to  believe  that  city  officials  and 
State  legislators  of  our  time  were  so  given  to  bribe- 
taking that  every  now  and  then  a  squad  of  them  had 
to  be  packed  off  to  prison ;  that  the  civil  authorities 
were  so  untrustworthy  that  the  project  of  socializing 
public  utilities  and  the  means  of  production  was 
stayed,  the  people  not  daring  to  commit  these  proper- 
ties to  the  charge  of  their  own  lawmakers ;  and  that 
thus  a  pernicious,  immoral  system  of  things  was  able 
to  hold  on,  postponing  the  greatest  of  all  reforma- 
tions, by  breeding  an  inordinate  lust  of  gold  in  high 
places,  turning  them  into  dens  of  robbers.  The  first 
need  of  an  effort  to  actualize  socialism  is  public  con- 
fidence in  the  wisdom  and  safety  of  collective  owner- 
ship and  management  of  affairs,  and  here  we  are 
confronted  by  notorious  scandals  in  the  conduct  of 
the  vastly  inferior  interests  already  under  collective 
control. 

However,  it  is  probably  right  here  that  we  are  now 
making  our  most  significant  advance.  The  very  fact 
that  mismanagement  of  public  trusts  is  being  brought 
to  light,  that  justice  is  being  meted  out  to  the  guilty, 
is  a  sign  of  moral  health  and  vigor  not  to  be  over- 
looked.    Then,   it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 


320  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

number  of  public  officials  in  a  country  like  this  is  very- 
large;  that  the  great  bulk  of  them  are  under  no 
least  suspicion  of  betraying  the  trusts  committed  to 
them;  that  the  percentage  of  failure  among  them 
is  no  greater,  apparently  much  less,  than  among  the 
agents  and  directors  of  private  corporations,  —  which 
really  leaves  nothing  to  be  said  against  swelling  the 
volume  of  public  business  at  the  expense  of  the  vol- 
ume of  private  business.  Then,  too,  there  never  was 
a  time  when  so  much  was  being  said  and  done  to 
quicken  the  public  conscience,  to  build  up  civic  moral- 
ity. Municipal  government  in  America,  confessedly 
behind  what  it  is  in  Europe,  is  receiving  a  marked 
degree  of  attention,  not  only  from  specialists  but  from 
men  of  affairs  and  from  the  reading  public;  from  all 
of  which  we  may  hope  that  our  inferiority  will  be 
overcome,  perhaps  even  some  methods  devised  of  in- 
suring good  management,  which  foreigners,  who  have 
not  unjustly  derided  us,  may  commend  for  home  use. 

At  all  events,  to  point  to  the  improbity  stimulated 
by  the  existing  order  as  precluding  the  adoption  of 
the  socialist  programme,  is  but  an  instance  of  that 
imbecility  which  makes  prevailing  wickedness  an  argu- 
ment against  reform.  "  People  are  too  selfish,  too 
untrustworthy,"  we  are  told,  "  to  admit  of  their  liv- 
ing in  the  high  fashion  that  socialism  prescribes ;  wait 
until  the  millennium."  But,  that  advice  followed,  the 
millennium  would  never  come.  It  is  the  Devil's  own 
advice,  given  with  the  intent  to  keep  things  in  his  own 
hands. 

The  method  which  best  promises  to  extirpate  graft, 


The  New  World  in  the  Making  321 

and  that  which  is  actually  being  resorted  to,  is  to  lay 
more  and  more  responsibilities  upon  public  servants, 
while  selecting  them  with  greater  care  and  exercising 
over  them  a  greater  watchfulness.  The  unmistakable 
tendency  of  such  a  course  is  that  the  heinousness  of 
falsity  to  a  public  trust  gets  ever  more  salient,  and  the 
fear  of  a  State,  and  especially  of  a  federal,  indict- 
ment ever  more  wholesome.  Every  thief  understands 
that  robbing  the  United  States  mail  is  a  more  pre- 
carious business  than  robbing  a  private  house.  Hedge 
all  public  concerns  about,  similarly,  with  heavier  and 
surer  penalty  for  malfeasance,  and  even  those  func- 
tionaries will  walk  warily  whose  ways  in  private 
matters  are  suspected  of  crookedness. 

The  awakening  to  the  need  of  a  higher  standard 
of  civic  morals  is  coincident  with  the  trend  toward 
socialistic  ideas  —  both  that  unconscious  trend  taken 
by  governments,  and  the  open  acceptance  accorded 
by  many  of  the  foremost  minds  of  our  time.  By 
persons  worth  noticing,  socialism  is  no  longer  re- 
garded askance  as  a  wild  scheme  to  be  set  aside  with 
a  sneer ;  it  is  seen  to  be  a  solid  system  of  thought 
that  has  to  be  dealt  with ;  it  is  seen  to  have  —  what 
the  existing  social  order  so  fatally  lacks  —  an  ethical 
basis  that  cannot  be  impugned  without  impugning 
the  Founder  of  Christianity,  putting  it  in  notable  con- 
trast with  the  great  political  parties  as  we  have 
known  them.  Publicists  who  have  been  denunciatory, 
observing  the  march  this  movement  is  making,  —  ob- 
serving, too,  how  its  voice  is  ever  on  the  side  of 
peace,  of  progress,  of  democratic  equality,  of  popu- 


322  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

lar  education,  of  civic  order,  health,  and  decency,  — 
are  heard  to  speak  in  a  different  tone.  * 

Collective  ownership  and  co-operative  labor  can 
be  generally  instituted  with  success  only  when  the 
collective  interest  has  been  developed  into  a  widely- 
felt,  controlUng  sentiment.  The  objection  now  most 
readily  made  to  the  proposed  order  is,  that  it  will  not 
work  ;  that  the  moment  the  individual  interest  ceases 
to  be  supreme,  the  chief  spur  to  endeavor  will  be 
found  wanting ;  what  is  everybody's  business  will  be 
nobody's  business,  and  all  enterprise  will  be  smitten 
with  decay.  We  are  pointed  to  the  lack  of  energy 
so  frequently  observable  among  clerks  and  laborers 
employed  by  a  city,  as  compared  with  that  shown  by 
employes  of  private  firms  ;  to  the  neglect  and  waste 
of  property  often  seen  in  public  administration  and  in 
the  conduct  of  a  society,  religious  or  other.  Here  is 
unquestionably  a  grave  difficulty.  Overstated  it  may 
be,  but  that  there  is  much  in  it  cannot  be  denied. 
For  convincing  evidence  one  has  but  to  watch  the 
laborers  engaged  in  cleaning  a  public  street.  The 
scene  recalls  the  farmers'  manner  of  working  out 
their  road-tax  in  the  old  days.  Their  chief  study  was 
to  pass  the  time  with  as  little  exertion  as  was  decently 
possible.  So  generally  was  this  the  case  that  the  jolly 
old  fashion  of  "  working  on  the  road  "  had  to  be  given 
up,  the  tax  collected  in  money,  and  the  work  turned 


*  Even  ex-President  Roosevelt,  speaking  at  the  Sorbonne 
in  presence  of  M.  Briand,  the  socialist  Prime  Minister  of 
France,  and  other  dignitaries  of  the  same  way  of  thinking, 
decried  only  "  extreme  socialism." 


The  Nezv  World  in  the  Making  323 

over  to  contractors.  All  this  signifies  that  the  col- 
lective sentiment  is  not  yet  well  developed,  that  it 
has  been  overridden  by  the  private  interest,  and  that, 
preparatory  to  the  new  order,  this  sentiment  of  the 
collectivity  must  be  cultivated  and  brought  out  by 
gradual  advances  toward  socialism.  A  collective 
spirit,  analogous  to  the  spirit  of  the  bee-hive  of  which 
Maeterlinck  has  told  us,  will  have  to  be  generated 
before  the  co-operative  commonwealth  can  be  fully 
realized.  That  this  is  a  task  Herculean,  not  to  be 
accomplished  short  of  a  considerable  lapse  of  time,  is 
a  fact  as  unwelcome  as  it  is  obvious.  But  in  the  long 
run  nothing  is  gained  by  blinking  the  facts. 

World-making  on  the  socialist  plan  will  proceed 
from  the  basis  of  the  world  as  it  is,  just  as  have  all 
advantageous  transformations  in  the  past,  whether  of 
the  physical  globe  or  of  human  society.  Catastrophic 
changes  in  both  have  taken  place,  but  they  are  un- 
profitable and  will  hardly  recur  to  any  sweeping  ex- 
tent now  that  the  forces  of  the  material  and  the 
moral  world  have  lost  so  much  of  their  primordial 
wildness.  What  there  is  that  is  good  in  the  world 
at  present  —  and  there  is  much,  notwithstanding 
what  in  hot  haste  is  said  to  the  contrary  in  con- 
templation of  abounding  evils- — will  be  conserved: 
all  civilizing  and  humanizing  institutions  not  ren- 
dered superfluous  by  abolition  of  the  evils  they  were 
designed  to  counteract  ;  means  of  education  and  en- 
hghtenment,  social  and  leiigious  fraternities  ;  what- 
ever we  now  have  that  goes  to  brighten  and  better 
the  world,  albeit  in  the  new  conditions  wiser  modes 


324  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  conducting  the  work  may  in  many  cases  be  found. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  thought  that  the  church,  for  in- 
stance, will  retain  its  present  way  of  dispensing  the 
gospel,  or  of  dispensing  with  the  gospel,  whichever 
may  seem  the  more  accurate  form  of  expression. 
A  modus  operandi  will  have  to  be  found  that  will 
break  down  the  walls,  real  or  imaginary,  which  shut 
out  certain  classes;  a  style  of  teaching  must  be  in- 
augurated which  will  meet  common  needs ;  broader, 
more  varied  human  services  must  be  instituted,  appli- 
cable to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men ;  a  leveling 
process,  taking  the  loftiness  out  of  those  whom  an 
excess  of  earthly  good  has  led  to  think  of  themselves 
more  highly  than  they  ought  to  think,  and  a  lifting 
up  of  those  on  whom  fortune  has  less  complacently 
smiled.  For,  be  it  remembered,  socialism  is  not  going 
to  do  all  the  needed  leveling  to  make  people  really 
"  sit  together  in  heavenly  places."  There  will  always 
be  distinctions  —  distinctions  in  private  property  even, 
though  vastly  less  than  now  —  on  which  people,  if 
they  choose,  can  feel  themselves  "  set  up."  Some- 
thing will  be  left  for  religion  to  do  to  realize  the  full 
blessedness  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  to  bring  in 
the  era  of  complete  fraternity. 

Worlds  are  slowly  made,  and  the  new  world  of 
socialism  will  be  no  exception  to  the  rule,  though  now 
and  then  in  things  spiritual  and  things  material  "one 
day  is  as  a  thousand  years."  The  transition  will  go 
on  for  a  long  time  yet  as  it  now  goes  on,  that  is,  in 
the  way  of  an  unconscious  or  half-conscious  growth, 
induced  in  the  main  by  economic  causes,  causes  in- 


The  New  World  in  the  Making  325 

herent  in  the  nature  of  things  and  not  to  be  resisted, 
but  also  in  a  measure  and  increasingly  by  voluntary 
causes,  by  the  gradual  uprising  of  the  moral  will  to 
shape  the  world  consciously  after  an  ideal  pattern. 
This  as  it  comes  in,  and  come  it  surely  must,  will  be 
the  greatest  glory  in  the  whole  history  of  earth  and 
man,  a  real  coming  to  consciousness  of  Creative 
Power  in  the  human  creature  whereby  he  will  be- 
come more  than  a  product  of  circumstances,  will 
become  the  maker  of  circumstances,  bringing  condi- 
tions into  conformity  with  his  own  ideas,  instead  of 
himself  being  conformed,  body  and  soul,  to  the  con- 
ditions in  which  he  happens  to  be  placed.  Master 
of  economic  forces  by  which  through  the  ages,  for 
better  or  for  worse,  he  has  been  dominated,  he  will 
enter  upon  his  ripe  majority,  God's  freeman,  right 
lordly  ruler  of  the  earth,  which  he  will  exploit  with  a 
good  conscience  —  no  longer  exploiting  his  brother  — 
making  it  yield  him  its  utmost  wealth  of  bounty. 

This  glory  in  its  fulness  is  remote,  and  to  be 
glimpsed  only  in  a  general  way.  Of  "  times  and  sea- 
sons "  we  may  not  speak,  nor  paint-in  any  least  detail 
of  the  picture.  But  the  dim  outline  of  a  vision  will 
stay  the  longing  heart,  strengthen  the  toiling  hand 
and  brace  the  feeble  knees ;  for,  happily,  some  things 
that  are  vague  are  among  the  things  that  are  surest. 

As  no  clear  account  of  the  world  as  it  will  be  some 
centuries  hence  is  possible,  so  we  cannot  once  for  all 
fix  our  ideal,  and  say  definitely  and  precisely  what 
form  it  is  best  to  have  things  take.  We  are  accus- 
tomed to  say,  speaking  generally,  that  the  instruments 


326  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  production  are  to  be  socialized,  pass  into  the  hands 
of  the  collectivity;  but  just  how  sweeping  this  change 
is  to  be,  no  one  is  in  a  position  to  affirm.  The  part 
of  wisdom  here  is  a  frank  empiricism  ;  and  this 
clearly  leads  up  to  the  conclusion,  that  so  much,  and 
only  so  much,  of  the  business  of  the  world  will  be 
taken  over  by  the  State  as  experiment  shows  can  be 
best  administered  by  the  State,  and  with  the  best 
results  to  all  concerned.  Certainly  the  industries  will 
not  all  be  taken  over  at  once.  Such  a  thing  is  obvi- 
ously out  of  the  question;  if  for  no  other  reason, 
from  the  impossibility  of  suddenly  calling  into  being 
a  bureau  of  proportions  to  assume  such  immeasurable 
responsibilities.  The  change,  whatever  its  ultimate 
extent,  can  come  only  by  degrees,  a  single  branch  of 
industry  at  a  time,  each  entered  upon  tentatively,  to 
settle  by  experiment  what  can  be  done;  a  gradual, 
cautious  transition  avoiding  any  great  shock  to  the 
world  of  affairs,  and  avoiding  also  the  fatal  confusion 
into  which  the  new  management  itself  would  be  sure 
to  fall  were  it  to  undertake  at  once  the  whole  task 
which  may  in  the  end  be  assigned  to  it.  Just  as  the 
State  has  demonstrated  its  ability  to  run  the  post- 
office  successfully,  and  with  benefits  to  the  public 
doubtless  incalculably  beyond  what  would  otherwise 
have  accrued,  it  may  go  on  to  take  charge  of  the 
means  of  transportation,  and,  later,  take  over  one  and 
another  of  the  great  branches  of  production;  proving 
the  feasibility  of  each  step  as  it  goes,  demonstrating 
the  advantages  of  State  ownership  and  direction,  or, 
failing  in  some  instance,  leaving  room  to  think  that 


The  Nezv  World  in  the  Making  327 

private  ownership  has  still  a  part  to  play  and  is  prop- 
erly to  be  left  in  charge  of  certain  lines  of  business. 

Then,  too,  it  is  not  altogether  clear  how,  in  the  new 
social  order,  the  State,  that  is,  the  State  government, 
is  or  can  be  the  ideal  industrial  head,  representing 
the  collectivity.  To  be  that,  it  assuredly  will  first 
have  to  undergo  no  little  transformation.  A  monarch 
or  potential  monarch  with  a  mighty  army  behind  him 
fits  not  well  into  this  scheme.  The  political  interest 
with  its  armaments  and  its  variously  veiled  autocra- 
cies must  decrease  as  the  social  interest  increases, 
giving  place  to  a  government  of  the  people  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  little 
or  nothing  might  be  gained  by  substituting  for  the 
capitalists  as  employers  the  government  as  we  know 
it.  The  object  to  be  sought  is  the  elimination  of  the 
wage  and  profit  system,  not  a  change  of  masters ;  and 
for  that  the  State  must  be  turned  into  a  vast  social- 
industrial  organization,  the  head  one  with  the  rest  of 
the  body.  The  process  may  be  long,  but  the  begin- 
ning is  near.  Starting  out  toward  this  ideal  as  a 
Social  Democracy,  and  becoming  increasingly  indus- 
trial, the  State  will  gradually  lose  in  good  part  its 
political  character,  matters  political  becoming  more 
and  more  dwarfed  beside  the  magnitude  of  the  great 
industrial  undertakings.  Something  of  this  sort  is 
at  least  our  expectation,  though  no  one  can  say  just 
what  course  events  will  take. 

The  perpetuation  of  great  fortunes  in  families,  by 
inheritance  from  generation  to  generation  through 
the  centuries,  is  an  evil,  destructive  of  any  equality 


328  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

of  privilege,  keeping  up  on  no  ground  of  personal 
merit  or  desert  a  distinction  of  classes  which  social- 
ism would  obliterate.  But  whether  in  our  ideal  of 
society  inheritance  should  be  altogether  abolished, 
or  subjected  to  a  heavy  and  rapidly  progressive  tax 
that  shall  absorb  the  heritage  after  two  or  three  suc- 
cessions, remains  undetermined,  with  much  to  say  in 
favor  of  the  less  stringent  mode  of  procedure.  * 

The  great  achievement  that  socialism  has  before 
it  is,  from  one  point  of  view,  the  effacement  of  class 
distinctions  through  its  uplift  of  the  burden-bearers. 
In  the  nature  of  the  case,  so  inestimable  a  triumph 
is  yet  afar  off  —  awaits  the  completing  and  working 
out  of  the  programme.  But  there  is  a  preliminary 
unification  to  be  accomplished,  one  that  is  now  going 
on,  though  with  less  celerity  than  might  be  wished  — 
a  unification  of  those  in  the  ranks,  a  joining  of  hands 
of  all  believers,  effecting,  as  an  earnest  of  the  final 
consummation,  an  effacement  of  class-feeling  among 
socialists  themselves.  For  it  has  come  about,  and 
must  be  taken  as  of  good  augury,  that  many  who  are 
never  counted  as  proletarians  are  firm  supporters  of 
this  movement:  students,  teachers,  professional  men 
and  women,  even  some  persons  of  considerable  wealth. 
Among  these  converts  we  note  a  goodly  array  of 
Christian  ministers  of  various  denominations,  whose 
adherence  to  the  cause  is  the  more  to  be  appreciated 
in  that,  in  some  instances,  it  has  involved  grievous 
sacrifices.     Now,   having  applauded  to  the  echo  the 


*  See   Chapter   IV. 


The  New  World  in  the  Making  329 

founders  when  they  declare  that  the  uprising  of  the 
fourth  estate  to  take  control  of  things  by  force  of 
numbers  will  make  an  end  of  class  struggles  and  class 
prejudices,  it  needs  for  us  socialists  to  set  alongside 
this  fine  sentiment  of  harmony  the  practical  illustra- 
tion of  giving  to  those  who,  out  of  whatever  circle, 
have  come  to  our  help,  a  hearty  and  enthusiastic 
welcome.  That,  after  what  has  passed,  there  should 
be  suspicion  and  grudges,  shrinking  back  and  undis- 
guised ill-will,  is  not  unnatural ;  these  manifestations, 
while  bringing  their  twinge  of  pain,  will  be  under- 
stood, and  allowance  for  them  will  be  made;  but  it 
were  better,  more  consonant  with  our  ultimate  purpose 
of  harmonizing  the  world,  and  would  promise  more 
assuredly  for  that  end,  to  harmonize  ourselves,  to 
cement  the  brotherhood  by  a  cordial  greeting  to  all 
comers. 

The  ill-feeling  alluded  to,  or  rather  the  lack  of 
a  good  understanding,  often  enough  to  be  seen  in  our 
country  where  class  prejudices  are  less  pronounced 
than  in  the  old  world,  is  most  shown  by  socialists  of 
foreign  birth  who  in  their  native  habitat  acquired  a 
bitterness  of  feeling  hardly  yet  generated  here.  Over 
there  it  is  really  asking  a  good  deal  of  a  working-man 
to  have  any  heart-to-heart  intercourse  with  a  well- 
dressed  stranger.  If  one  approaches  him,  he  is  dis- 
pleased at  the  outset  by  what  seems  to  him  the  con- 
descension, the  patronage  of  the  thing.  If  you  are 
to  speak  with  any  acceptance  to  a  throng  of  workers 
in  London  or  Paris,  you  not  only  need  to  command 
the    dialect   of   your    hearers,    you    must    have    their 


330  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

bronzed  faces  and  hardened  hands,  have  on  the  garb 
they  wear,  be  one  of  them.  It  is  said  to  be  practically 
impossible  for  one  of  the  English  gentry,  though 
socialist  decided  as  Marx,  personally  to  reach  the 
workers  to  any  purpose  in  any  one  of  the  great  in- 
dustrial centers.  If  they  are  socialists,  they  are  un- 
able to  see  how  he  can  be  one. 

Here,  then,  is  a  little  world  of  our  own  that  is  first 
to  be  made  new  before  attempting  to  carry  the  greater 
world.  The  task  ought  not  to  be  beyond  our  capa- 
bilities. It  must  distress  a  socialist  lecturer  to  see 
his  brother  toilers  refuse  to  hear  him  when  he  speaks 
in  a  church ;  but  he  will  keep  on  speaking  in  churches 
and  out  of  churches,  in  the  determined  effort  to  break 
down  a  bar  that  should  never  have  been  put  up.  The 
wise  leader  of  another  movement,  to  whose  broad 
humanism  this  movement  of  ours  may  trace  the  ori- 
gin —  not  of  its  form,  to  be  sure,  but  of  its  best 
ideas  —  was  careful  not  to  restrict  his  fellowship  to 
any  one  class,  and  encouraged  the  doing  of  his  work 
by  whatsoever  person,  in  whosesoever  name,  saying, 
"  He  who  is  not  against  us  is  for  us."  * 

Socialism  is  in  its  theoretical  stage ;  we  must  know 
it  is  not  yet,  like  an  architect's  plan  and  specifications, 
a  fixed  and  definite  scheme  of  things  to  be  worked 


*  Mark  9:40.  The  words  of  contrary  sound  (Matt.  12:30; 
Luke  11:23)  are  utterly  out  of  connection  where  they  stand, 
seem  to  be  thrust  in,  to  have  come  out  of  a  later  time  of 
strife  and  divisions,  —  at  all  events  are  not  to  be  taken  as 
canceling  this  saying  which  has  clear  and  pointed  application 
in  the  context. 


The  Neiv  World  in  the  Making  331 

out  in  accordance  with  preconceived  determinations, 
but  a  developing  system  of  thought  of  which  the  hori- 
zon before  us  advances  as  we  advance.  To  what  the 
fathers  saw,  their  sons  see  something  to  add,  and 
from  that  earlier  vision  something  to  retrench.  In 
these  widely-extending  fields  no  one  any  more  can 
pretend  to  speak  the  final  word. 

"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties ;    Time  makes  ancient  good 
uncouth ; 
They    must    upward    still,    and    onward,    who    would    keep 
abreast   of   Truth." 

To  be  sure,  this  movement  differs  from  previous  so- 
cial changes  in  being  in  some  measure  a  voluntary 
movement,  a  conscious  reaching  out  for  something 
which,  if  not  clearly  defined,  has  yet  some  perceptible 
outline.  The  advent  of  the  existing  order  was  not  so. 
Nobody  consciously  sought  to  bring  it  in ;  it  was  not 
a  cause  evoking  enthusiasm.  It  grew  up  under  the 
blind  compulsion  of  economic  law,  and  of  other  forces 
hardly  less  blind,  —  political,  moral,  religious,  —  of  all 
of  which  it  was  the  resultant,  and  not  one  of  which 
ever  had  it  consciously  in  view.  The  volitional  ele- 
ment in  the  new  movement  is  indeed  as  yet  only 
partial,  present  in  only  a  comparatively  few  minds, 
and  with  them  to  slight  purpose  save  as  concerns  the 
immediate  future.  We  dream  and  ponder,  as  men 
have  always  dreamt  and  pondered,  and  some  vague 
expectation  floats  at  times,  perhaps,  as  a  vision  before 
us ;    or,  failing  the  sight,  the  plaintive  voice  of  one 


332  Import  and  Outlook  of  Socialism 

like  ourselves  weary  of  waiting  is  heard  across  the 
ages,  breaking  over  us  like  a  wave  from  far-off 
shores  and  rolling  on  to  other  shores  no  less  remote, 
waking  always  the  same  reflections. 

"One   saint  to  another   I   heard  say,  'How  long?' 
I  listened,  but  naught  more  I  heard  of  the  song; 

The  shadows  are  gliding  through  city  and  plain ; 
How  long  shall  the  night  with  its  shadows  remain? 

"  How  long  ere  shall  shine  in  this  glimmer  of  things 
The  light  of  which  prophet  in  prophecy  sings ; 
And  the  gates  of  that  city  be  open  whose  sun 
No  more  to  the  west  in  its  circuit  shall  run?" 

Such  longings  pertain  to  us ;  they  give  a  religious 
glow  to  our  thoughts,  but  have  hardly  any  other  use. 
What  we  have  to  deal  with  is  the  world  of  to-day 
and  the  world  of  to-morrow  in  the  rather  restricted 
meaning  of  *<  to-morrow."  We  ourselves  need  not  ex- 
pect to  see  the  fulfilment  of  our  dream,  the  creation 
of  an  earthly  Paradise,  the  ushering  in  of  any  millen- 
nium. We  can  hold  up  our  ideal,  give  it  to  others, 
spread  it  far  and  wide,  trusting  that  as  it  goes  it  will 
gain  in  wisdom  and  in  beauty,  and  knowing  that  when 
it  has  gone  far  enough,  won  over  a  working  majority, 
it  will  realize  itself  in  a  world  which,  incomplete  as 
it  may  yet  remain,  will  be  infinitely  brghter  and  fairer 
than  the  world  as  it  now  is. 


INDEX 


American  Revolution,  9. 
Amsterdam  Congress,   1904,   in- 
cident of,   156. 
Anti-renters,  29. 
Appeal  to  Reason,  The,  108. 
Arnold  of  Brescia,  300. 

Bebel,  104,  253. 
Bellamy,  Edward,  311,  315. 
Bentham,  Jeremy,  24,  188. 
Berger,  Victor  L.,  147. 
Bernstein,  173  note,  315. 
Bismarck,  66-69. 
Blanc,  Louis,  29-35,  ^^• 
Bourgeoisie,  rise  of,    14,  26,  27, 

57,  58. 
Briand,  101. 
Bright,  John,  59. 
Brjan,  W.  J.,  108. 
Business,    morals    of,    211 -213, 

223,  226. 

Calhoun,  10. 

Capital,  combinations  of,  45,  109, 

171  ;    —   competition  of,    31, 

171,  172;  —  collective  in  lieu 

of  private,  139-143. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  227,  228. 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  13S  note,  225. 
Chartism,  29. 
Christianity,    20,    304-310;    — 

the  New,  19. 


Cobden,  59. 
Commune,  the,  43,  44. 
Communism,  early  Christian,  281 

-283;  —  primitive,  50-54. 
Considerant,  27,  148. 

Densmore,  Dr.,  254-256. 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  114;  — par- 
able of,  267,  268. 

Economic  Law,  supposed  om- 
nipotence of,  172-176,  200- 
202 ;  —  other  efficient  causes, 
185-188. 

Eliot,  Dr.  C.W.,  183  note. 

Ely,  Professor  R.  T.,  201,  215. 

Employers'  liability,  64-66. 

Engels,  163,  172-174,  199. 

Enterprise,  spirit  of,  18. 

Erfurt  Declaration,  89-91. 

Fabian  Society,  94. 
Factory  legislation,  59-61. 
Feudalism,  55-57,  80. 
Forests,  conser\'ation  of,  11 S. 
Fourier,  27. 
Frederick    the    Great,   code    of, 

67. 
French  Revolution,  10. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  28. 
George,  Henr)-,  73,  ri6,  125. 


334 


Index 


Golden  Rule,  275-279,  313. 
Gronlund,  127  noie,  212  note. 
Guesde,  102-104. 

Hardie,  J.  Keir,  98. 
Herve,  154. 
Hughes,  Thomas,  289. 
Hunter,  Robert,  158. 

Industrial  crises,  25,  169. 

Industrial  progress,  168,  197, 
198. 

Industries  conducted  by  State, 
62-64 ;  —  eighteenth  century 
revolution  in,  12,  58-60,  165- 
169;  — management  of,  18,  19. 

Inheritance-tax,  128-143;  — P''0" 
posed  scheme  of,  134-138. 

International,  the,  150-154. 

International  Congress,  159-162 ; 

—  at  Amsterdam,  104;  —  at 
Stuttgart,  105. 

Jaures,  102-104,  199. 

Jefferson,  19. 

Jesus  and  the  poor,  266-272,  294 ; 

—  socialistic  teaching  of,  265- 
298 ;  —  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
295. 

Katyama,  156. 
Kropotkin,  196,  197. 

Labor,  competition  of,  13,  166, 

171. 
Laf argue,  52. 
Lamennais,  298,  303. 
Landlordism,    27,    56,    114- 117, 

222. 


Land  problem,  113-118;  —  ti- 
tles, 203 ;    —  value,  204. 

Lassalle,  Ferdinand,  30,  36-42, 
47,  67,  83,  85,  199. 

Laveleye,  271. 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  72. 

Letoumeau,  128. 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  271. 

Luther,  301. 

Machinery,  age  of,  12  ;  —  gain 

of,  15. 
Maison  du  Peitple,  106. 
Mammon-worship,  48,  123,  273. 
Marx,  Karl,  30,  42,  43,  47,  83,  93, 

105,   116,    151,    158,    163,    168, 
.     170,  173-176,   178,  179,   195' 

199. 
Materialistic   determinism,    172- 

180,  200-202,  299. 
Mazzini,  150. 
Menger,    Professor    Anton,    173 

note. 
Millennium,  visions  of,  49,  285- 

290. 
Millerand,  loi. 
Milwaukee,  socialist  victory  at, 

146-147. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  65. 
Morals,  socialist  standard  of,  214 

-218,  225. 
Morris,  William,  95,  199. 
Municipalities,  betterment  of,  75 

-77- 
Munro,  73. 

Napoleon  L,  12,  17. 
Napoleon  III.,  16  note,  35. 
Neighbor,  the,  275. 


Index 


335 


New  Lanark,  23,  24. 
Nicholas  I.,  25. 

O'CoNNELL,  Daniel,  29. 
Opportunity,    present   inequality 

of,  1 21-124. 
Owen,  Robert,  22-26,  148. 

Parousia,  the,  286-291. 

Patriotism,  admirable,  155  ;  — 
exaggerated,  1 54. 

Pauperism,  13,  31,  32,  111-113. 

Peary,  Commander,  53. 

Profit-sharing,  206. 

Proletariat,  13,  14;  —  great  de- 
velopment of,  166 ;  —  miseries 
of,  30-32,  34  ;  —  slaughter  of, 
35,  44,  302. 

Property,  private,  191  ;  —  — 
origin  of,  54,  55. 

Proudhon,  203,  273. 

Questions  and  quibbles,  189, 
193- 

Ramsay,  56. 
Randall,  S.  J.,  19. 
Rauschenbusch,  Professor,  208- 

210. 
Reform  Act,  27. 
Reign  of  Terror,  11,  200. 
Rent,  193,  194. 
Rich  and  poor,  45,  46,  111-113, 

191,  266-269. 
Rignano,  Eugenio,  132. 
Roosevelt,   Theodore,    108,   322 

note. 
Rousseau,  10,  54. 
Ruskin,  15  note,  199. 


Saint-Simon,  16-21,  32,  ^;^. 
Seligman,  Professor,  186. 
Sex  disparity,  250. 
Sex  relation  commercialized,  252 

-256. 
Shaftesbur)',  59. 
Sillon,  le,  300  note. 
Slavery,  28,  47,  79,  185. 
Social  Democracy,  86,  92  ;  —  in 

America,  145-147. 
Social  evolution,  49-82,  316,  317, 

321-332- 

Socialism,  attitude  toward  war, 
153-  154.  156,  237-241;  —de- 
votion of  its  propagandists, 
220.  221 ;  —  difficulties  con- 
fronting, 125,  142,  317,  318; 
—  hope  of  woman,  256-262, 
322,  323;  —  and  the  church, 
304-314;  —  principles  of,  49, 
89,  90,  1 25,  223 ;  —  the  second 
coming  of  Christ,  290-293, 
303;  —  universality  of,  149, 
1 57  ;  —  what  it  will  do,  1 1 5, 
118-121,  143,  145,  288,  292, 
293,  297,  298 ;  —  when  ?  49, 
96,  175,  192,  195,  325;  — 
in  Belgium,  105-107;  —  in 
France,  100-105;  —  in  Ger- 
many, 84-93;  — i"  Great  Brit- 
ain, 93-100. 

Socialistic  progress  in  Europe, 
69-75. 

Socialist  party,  107,  108,  19S- 
200;  —  ethics  of,  321  ;  — 
need    of    harmony     in,     32S- 

330- 
Society,  historical  stages  of,  78, 

79- 


336 


Index 


Spargo,  John,  217. 
Strikes,  46. 

Taft,  President,  147. 
Taxation,  207,  225. 
Trusts,  109,  no. 

Unearned  increment,  116-119, 

126,  204,  224. 
Utopias,  25-27,  83. 

Vail,  Rev.  C.  H.,  178. 

Values,  gospel  estimate  of,  272- 

274. 
Victory  at  Milwaukee,  146-147. 

Wages,  debasement  of,  13,  21, 


War,  153,  154,  227-234;  — 
cost  of,  234  -  236  ;  —  its 
waste,  11;  —  morally  debas- 
ing, 232,  233  ;  —  socialists  on, 
237-241. 

Webb,  Beatrice,  95. 

Webb,  Sidney,  60,  95. 

Wekerle,  Dr.,  73. 

Women,  education  of,  251  ;  — 
high  endowments  shown  by, 
262  ;  — •  in  domestic  and 
other  service,  247  ;  —  mar- 
riage of,  as  recourse  from 
dependence,  248 ;  —  position 
of,  242,  243 ;  —  social  dis- 
tinctions among,  249,  257, 
258;  —  work  and  wages  of, 
244,  245. 


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